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Lookup NU author(s): Dr William Reid, Professor Stephen Rushton
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis with contaminated poultry meat its main source. Control of C. jejuni is a priority for the poultry industry but no vaccines are available and their development hampered by poor understanding of the immunobiology of C. jejuni infection. Here we show the functional role of B lymphocytes in response to C. jejuni in the chicken through depletion of the B lymphocyte population (bursectomy) followed by challenge. B lymphocyte depletion has little effect on bacterial numbers in the ceca, the main site of colonisation, where C. jejuni persist to beyond commercial slaughter age, but reduces clearance from the small intestine. In longerterm experiments we show antibody leads to reduction in C. jeuni numbers in the ceca by nine weeks post infection. Whilst we did not examine any protective role to re-challenge, it illustrates the difficulty in producing a vaccine in a young, immunologically naïve host. We believe this is first study of functional immunity to C. jejuni in chicken and shows antibody is ineffective in clearing C. jejuni from the cecawithin the production lifetime of chickens, although is involved in clearance from the small intestine andlonger-term clearance from the ceca.
Author(s): Lacharme-Lora L, Chaloner G, Gilroy R, Humphrey S, Gibbs K, Jopson S, Wright E, Reid W, Ketley J, Humphrey T, Williams N, Rushton S, Wigley P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2017
Volume: 7
Online publication date: 23/03/2017
Acceptance date: 16/02/2017
Date deposited: 24/03/2017
ISSN (electronic): 2045-2322
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45090
DOI: 10.1038/srep45090
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