title: Suppression and enhancement of mitogen response in chickens infected with Marek's disease virus and the herpesvirus of turkeys.
abstract: The kinetics of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) response of peripheral blood lymphocytes from chickens infected with oncogenic Marek's disease (MD) virus (MDV) or nononcogenic herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) was studied with a whole blood microassay. At about 7 days after inoculation, a depression in PHA response was observed in MDV-inoculated resistant line N or susceptible line 7(2) chickens and in HVT-inoculated line 7(2) chickens. All chickens initially regained their PHA responsiveness. Susceptible chickens that died of MD or developed MD lymphoma in later stages of virus infection showed a second severe depression in PHA response. No depression was observed in HVT-vaccinated chickens when challenged with MDV. The PHA response of MDV-inoculated chickens that survived MD, HVT-inoculated chickens, and HVT-vaccinated MDV-challenged chickens showed evidence of enhancement. The depression of PHA response was studied and was attributed to the suppressive effect of macrophages on T-cell response, a finding consistent with our previous studies on MDV suppression of PHA response.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008380:Marek Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D014422:Turkeys
chemical_list: D010835:Phytohemagglutinins