禽细胞因子的新功能——免疫治疗和疫苗佐剂

许多国家已明令禁止在饲料中使用抗生素类饲料添加剂和化学抗菌药物 ,从而使得肉品生产者急于寻求新的替代产品。细胞因子是一种在感染或免疫接种后产生的蛋白质 ,能够影响免疫应答的类型和水平 ,因此是一种绝佳的天然替代产品。随着更多的禽细胞因子基因的发现 ,临床应用细胞因子成为可能。由于禽类的免疫系统与哺乳动物的相似 ,因此相关工作也为研究细胞因子在控制家畜疾病上提供了颇具前景的动物模型。这里综述了禽细胞因子的最新研究进展 ,并侧重阐明了细胞因子作为治疗制剂和疫苗佐剂的功能与前景。

The Potential of Avian Cytokines as Immunotherapeutics and Vaccine Adjuvants

With the imminent and widespread ban of the use of antibiotic feed additives and chemical antimicrobials in food production animals, alternative measures need to be sought to ensure that the livestock industry will not be adversely affected. Cytokines are proteins that control the type and extent of an immune response following infection or vaccination. They therefore represent excellent naturally occurring therapeutics. The identification, cloning and characterisation of cytokine genes in chickens have lagged somewhat behind similar work in mammals. Progress in isolating chicken homologues of mammalian cytokines has also been slowed by the generally low level of sequence similarity. Chicken cytokine genes that have been cloned to date include ChIFN-gamma, ChIL-1beta, ChIFN-alpha, ChIL-15, ChIL-18, ChIL-8, ChIL-2, ChIL-6, ChIL-16, SCF, MGF, TGFbeta, Lymphotactin, MIP-1beta, CXC and CC chemokines, so the use of cytokines in poultry has become more feasible with the discovery of a number of avian cytokine genes. The delivery methods for chicken cytokine are of prime importance and are required to be safe, easy to administer and cost-effective. Live viral vectors such as fowl adenovirus (FAV) expressing cytokine genes can be delivered via drinking water or aerosol sprays, making it very easy to administer. Since the immune system of chickens is similar to that of mammals, they offer an attractive model system to study the effectiveness of cytokine therapy in the control of disease in livestock. This review focus on the recent advances made in avian cytokines, with a particular focus on their assessment as therapeutic agents and vaccine adjuvants.