Influence of maternal antibody on avian leukosis virus infection in White Leghorn chickens harboring endogenous virus-21 (EV21).

Slow-feathering (SF) white leghorn dams harboring the endogenous viral gene ev21, which encodes for complete endogenous virus-21 (EV21), and rapid-feathering (RF) dams lacking EV21 were immunized with a live field strain of avian leukosis virus (ALV) subgroup A. One group of SF dams and one group of RF dams were not immunized and were maintained to produce chicks lacking maternal ALV antibody. When the SF dams were crossed with line 15B1 males, the resulting male progeny were SF, EV21-positive, and the females were RF, lacking EV21 or congenitally infected with EV21. EV21-positive and -negative progeny of immunized and unimmunized SF and RF dams were exposed to ALV at hatching. Viremia, antibody development, cloacal shedding, and tumors in chickens lacking EV21 were compared with those in chickens with EV21. Congenital transmission of EV21 from SF dams to RF female chicks was significantly higher in immunized dams than in unimmunized dams. Maternal ALV antibody delayed infection with ALV and reduced viremia and cloacal shedding of virus in progeny. The effect of maternal antibody on ALV infection was much more pronounced in progeny lacking EV21 than in progeny harboring EV21. The data suggest that the development of ALV infection and tumors may be influenced by status of infection with EV21 and by the immune status of dams.