Abstract
Viral neoplasms in commercial poultry are mainly caused by members of two families with Marek’s disease virus (MDV) belonging to Herpesviridae and reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), avian leukosis virus subgroups A to E and avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) belonging to Retroviridae. This study was conducted to know the status of neoplasms caused by avian oncogenic viruses in commercial chickens. 25 blood samples were collected from a broiler breeder flock that appeared healthy but chickens from the flock on necropsy showed visceral tumours. PCR was employed on blood DNAs of these chickens for detection of avian oncogenic viruses which eventually detected the presence of multiple oncogenic virus infection in most birds. MDV specific primers that could differentiate between pathogenic and non-pathogenic serotype-1 virus detected MDV in four blood DNAs. REV could be detected from all the 25 blood DNAs and endogenous ALV was detected in 21 blood DNAs signifying the slow transforming nature of the retroviruses that may take months to perpetuate visible tumours. It was concluded that concurrent presence of multiple oncogenic viruses in the same bird is more common than the presence of single virus. Thus, for early disease control programs, this moderately simple PCR diagnostic technique can be utilized to identify the birds undergoing latent infection with avian oncogenic viruses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Davidson I, Silva RF (2008) Creation of diversity in animal virus world by inter species and intra-species recombinations: lessons learned from poultry viruses. Virus Genes 36:1–9
Schat KA, Nair V (2008) Marek’s disease. In: Saif YM, Fadly AM, Glisson JR, McDougald LR, Nolan LK, Swayne DE (eds) Diseases of poultry, 12th edn. Blackwell Publishing Company, Ames, pp 452–514
Fadly AM, Zavala G, Witter RL (2008) Reticuloendotheliosis. In: Saif YM, Fadly AM, Glisson JR, McDougald LR, Nolan LK, Swayne DE (eds) Diseases of Poultry, 12th edn. Blackwell Publishing Company, Ames, pp 568–588
Coffin JM (1992) Structure and classification of retroviruses. In: Levy JA (ed) The Retroviridae. Plenum Press, New York, pp 19–49
Fadly AM, Nair V (2008) Leukosis/Sarcoma group. In: Saif YM, Fadly AM, Glisson JR, McDougald LR, Nolan LK, Swayne DE (eds) Diseases of poultry, 12th edn. Blackwell Publishing Company, Ames, pp 514–568
Ewert DL, deBoer GF (1988) Avian lymphoid leukosis: Mechanism of lymphomagenesis. In: Perk K (ed) Immunodeficiency disorders. Academic Press Inc. Boston, pp 37–53
Fadly AM, Witter RL (1997) Comparative evaluation of in vitro and in vivo assays for the detection of reticuloendotheliosis virus as a contaminant in a live vaccine of poultry. Avian Dis 41:695–701
Fadly A, Silva R, Hunt H, Pandiri A, Davis C (2006) Isolation and characterization of an adventitious avian leukosis virus isolated from commercial Marek’s disease vaccines. Avian Dis 50:380–385
Silva RF, Fadly AM, Taylor SP (2007) Development of a polymerase chain reaction to differentiate avian leukosis virus (ALV) subgroups: detection of an ALV contaminant in commercial Marek’s disease vaccines. Avian Dis 51:663–667
Biswas SK, Jana C, Chand K, Rehman W, Mondal B (2011) Detection of fowl poxvirus integrated with reticuloendotheliosis virus sequences from an outbreak in backyard chickens in India. Vet Italy 47:147–153
Davidson I (2007) Avian oncogenic viruses: the correlation between clinical signs and molecular virus identification, knowledge acquired from the examination of over 1000 flocks. Isr J Vet Med 62:42–47
Davidson I, Perl S, Malkinson M (1998) A 4-year survey of avian oncogenic viruses in tumor-bearing flocks in Israel- a comparison of PCR, serology and histology. Avian Pathol 27:90
Gopal S, Manoharan P, Kathaperumal K, Chidambaram B, Divya KC (2012) Differential detection of avian oncogenic viruses in poultry layer farms and turkeys by use of multiplex PCR. J Clin Microbiol 50:2668–2673
Davidson I, Borenshtain R (2001) In vivo events of retroviral long terminal repeat integration into Marek’s disease virus in commercial poultry: detection of chimerical molecules as a marker. Avian Dis 45:102–121
Sambrook J, Fritch EF, Maniatis T (1989) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, 2nd edn. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor
Davidson I, Borenshtain R (1999) Multiple infections of chickens and turkeys with avian oncogenic viruses: prevalence and molecular analysis. Acta Virol 43:136–142
Smith LM, Brown SR, Howes K, McLeod S, Arshad SS, Barron G, Venugopal G, McKay JC, Payne LN (1998) Development and application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the detection of subgroup J avian leukosis virus. Virus Res 54:87–98
Fenton SP, Reddy MR, Bagust TJ (2005) Single and concurrent avian leukosis virus infections with avian leukosis virus-J and avian leukosis virus-A in Australian meat-type chickens. Avian Pathol 34:48–54
Gavora JS (1987) Influences of avian leukosis virus infection on production and mortality and the role of genetic selection in the control of lymphoid leukosis. In: de Boer GF (ed) Avian leukosis. Martinus Nijhoff, Boston, pp 241–260
Becker Y, Asher Y, Tabor E, Davidson I, Malkinson M, Weisman Y (1992) Polymerase chain reaction for differentiation between pathogenic and non-pathogenic serotype 1 Marek’s disease viruses (MDV) and vaccine viruses of MDV-serotype 2 and 3. J Virol Methods 40:307–322
Aly MM, Smith EJ, Fadly AM (1993) Detection of reticuloendotheliosis virus infection using polymerase chain reaction. Avian Pathol 22:543–554
Abdel-Latif MM, Khalafalla AI (2005) Detection by PCR of multiple subgroups of avian leukosis virus (ALV) in broilers in Sudan. J Anim Vet Adv 4:407–413
Pham TD, Spencer JL, Johnson ES (1999) Detection of avian leukosis virus in albumen of chicken eggs using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. J Virol Methods 78:1–11
Crittenden LB, McMahon S, Halpern MS, Fadly AM (1987) Embryonic infection with the endogenous avian leukosis virus Rous-associated virus-0 alters responses to exogenous avian leukosis virus infection. J Virol 61:722–725
Crittenden LB, Hayward WS, Hanafusa H, Fadly AM (1980) Induction of neoplasms by subgroup E recombinants of exogenous and endogenous avian retroviruses (Rous-associated virus type 60). J Virol 33:915–919
Ignjatovic J (1986) Replication-competent endogenous avian leukosis virus in commercial lines of meat chickens. Avian Dis 30:264–270
Payne LN, Venugopal K (2000) Neoplastic diseases: Marek’s disease, avian leukosis and Reticuloendotheliosis. Rev Sci Tech Off Int Epiz 19:544–564
Acknowledgments
Guidance and support from Dr M.R. Reddy (Senior Scientist, Avian Health laboratory, Project Directorate on Poultry, Hyderabad) is greatly appreciated by the authors. He also provided standard DNA for ALV subgroup A–E primer pair for which the authors are thankful.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mitra, N., Verma, R. & Singh, A. Early Detection of Avian Oncogenic Viruses from Blood of Apparently Healthy Chickens. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 83, 53–58 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-012-0084-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-012-0084-3