Effect of Mycoplasma synoviae and lentogenic Newcastle disease virus coinfection on cytokine and chemokine gene expression in chicken embryos.

Mycoplasma synoviae and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) are 2 avian pathogens that cause modulation in expression of a variety of cytokine and chemokine genes in chickens. However, there is limited data about gene modulation after coinfection with these 2 pathogens and even less data about gene modulation after infection of chicken embryos. In this study, the effect of M. synoviae type strain WVU 1853 and lentogenic LaSota vaccine strain of NDV infection on cytokine and chemokine gene expression in chicken embryos was analyzed in the liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, and thymus by using quantitative real-time PCR. Three types of infection were performed; infection with M. synoviae on d 10, infection with NDV on d 17; and consecutive infection with both pathogens, where M. synoviae was inoculated on d 10 and NDV on d 17. Thus, simulation of consecutive infection that may occur after NDV infection of the M. synoviae-infected host was performed. Mycoplasma synoviae infection of embryos resulted in intensive upregulation of cytokine and chemokine genes, including interferon (IFN)-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12p40, IL-16, IL-18, MIP-1β (CCL4), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), XCL1, and lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-α factor (LITAF), with different expression profiles in the 4 organs. Inoculation of lentogenic NDV significantly upregulated IFN-γ, IL-6, and IL-16 genes in spleen and IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-16, IL-21, XCL1, and MIP-1β (CCL4) genes in the thymus, but to a lesser extent than M. synoviae. However, no genes were upregulated by NDV in the liver and bursa of Fabricius. Overall effect of NDV inoculation, regarding the number of modulated cytokine and chemokine genes and the extent of expression, was lower than M. synoviae. When NDV was introduced after on-going M. synoviae infection, most M. synoviae-induced cytokine and chemokine genes were significantly downregulated. This study provides the first evidence in chicken embryos that consecutive infection with NDV could suppress expression of cytokine and chemokine genes being significantly upregulated by the previous M. synoviae infection.