title: Assessing the efficacy of an inactivated chicken anemia virus vaccine.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is an immunosuppressive virus that causes chicken infectious anemia (CIA) which is a highly contagious avian disease. CAV causes major economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. The current CAV vaccine is a live attenuated strain administered in the drinking water that risks horizontal infection of other chickens. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel vaccine against CAV that can be administered safely using a highly pathogenic isolate inactivated with β-propiolactone hydrolysis that would protect chicks from CAV.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hens were vaccinated twice intramuscularly with a novel CAV GD-G-12 inactivated vaccine and the humoral immune responses of the hens and offspring were monitored by ELISA. A heterologous intramuscular challenge using the CAV strain GD-E-12 was conducted in the chicks hatched from vaccinated or unvaccinated hens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The vaccine strain, GD-G-12, was shown to be highly pathogenic prior to inactivation evidenced by thymic atrophy and bleeding, and weight loss. The inactivated vaccine was considered safe and showed no signs of pathogenicity. High titers of CAV specific antibodies were detected in the vaccinated hens and in their chicks, indicating vertical transfer of maternal antibodies. Furthermore, the chicks hatched from vaccinated hens were resistant to a heterologous CAV challenge and showed no signs of weight loss and thymic atrophy and bleeding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our studies are proof of principle that inactivated GD-G-12 might be a novel vaccine candidate to prevent CAV infection, and highlight the utility of using an inactivated virus for this vaccine.
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
authors.forename: Xinheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
authors.forename: Boliang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Health Aquaculture and Environmental Control, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
authors.forename: Yuanjia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Health Aquaculture and Environmental Control, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; South China Collaborative Innovation Center for Poultry Disease Control and Product Safety, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
authors.forename: Weiguo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; South China Collaborative Innovation Center for Poultry Disease Control and Product Safety, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhenkai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China.
authors.forename: Yingzuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; Key Laboratory of Animal Health Aquaculture and Environmental Control, Guangzhou 510642, PR China; South China Collaborative Innovation Center for Poultry Disease Control and Product Safety, Guangzhou 510640, PR China. Electronic address: qmx@scau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Qingmei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D017727:Chicken anemia virus / Q000276:immunology*; D002645:Chickens; D018173:Circoviridae Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000473:pathology; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D015164:Vaccines, Inactivated; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: Avian immunology; Chicken anemia virus; Pathogenesis; Vaccine development