Effect of native chicken interferon on MDV replication

Marek's disease virus (MDV) is an oncogenic alphaherpesvirus. Its specific phosphorylated protein, pp38 has been implicated in MDV oncogenesis. In ord er to check whether the known anti-viral or anti-proliferative actions of i nterferon (IFN) are of importance in Marek's disease (MD), chicken embryo f ibroblasts (CEFs) were infected with attenuated serotype-1 MDV,strain CVI98 8, or with herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT). Different concentrations of native chicken IFN were added to the cell cultures, prior to their infection. Aft er incubation, MDV plaques were counted. Analysis by flow cytometry for pp3 8 expression was performed by using three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and for HVT by using an anti-glycoprotein B (gB) MAb. Increasing IFN quantities caused a reduction in a stepwise manner of plaque numbers as well as a sup pression of pp38 and gB expression in the CVI988- and HVT-infected cells, r espectively.