title: Cellular transcripts of chicken brain tissues in response to H5N1 and Newcastle disease virus infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and Newcastle disease (ND) viruses are the two most important poultry viruses in the world, with the ability to cause classic central nervous system dysfunction in poultry and migratory birds. To elucidate the mechanisms of neurovirulence caused by these viruses, a preliminary study was design to analyze host's cellular responses during infections of these viruses.
  
  
  METHODS
  An improved mRNA differential display technique (Gene Fishing™) was undertaken to analyze differentially expressed transcripts regulated during HPAI H5N1 and velogenic neurotropic NDV infections of whole brain of chickens. The identification of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was made possible as this technique uses annealing control primers that generate reproducible, authentic and long PCR products that are detectable on agarose gels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-three genes were identified to be significantly regulated during infections with both viruses, where ten of the genes have been selected for validation using a TaqMan® based real time quantitative PCR assay. Some of the identified genes demonstrated to be key factors involving the cytoskeletal system, neural signal transduction and protein folding during stress. Interestingly, Septin 5, one of the genes isolated from HPAI H5N1-infected brain tissues has been reported to participate in the pathogenic process of Parkinson's disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this limited study, the differentially expressed genes of infected brain tissues regulated by the viruses were found not to be identical, thus suggesting that their neurovirulence and neuropathogenesis may not share similar mechanisms and pathways.
authors.affiliation: Virus-Host Interaction Group, Infectious Disease Laboratory (MR3), School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Sunway Campus, 46150 Sunway, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Vinod R M T
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Balasubramaniam
authors.forename: Tham H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wai
authors.forename: Abdul R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Omar
authors.forename: Iekhsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Othman
authors.forename: Sharifah S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Hassan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002645:Chickens; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D009522:Newcastle disease virus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D059467:Transcriptome