Prowse S J
CSIRO Division of Animal Health, Animal Health Research Laboratory, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Int J Parasitol. 1991 Feb;21(1):133-5. doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(91)90134-s.
Immunity to Eimeria species in the fowl has been shown to be species specific and it has been proposed that the lack of cross-protection between the species of Eimeria is due to the absence of T cells which recognize antigens from a heterologous species. When this hypothesis was tested the results showed that antigens from E. tenella elicited a strong specific response by cells from birds immune to E. tenella. In contrast cells from birds which were immune to E. acervulina responded to a similar magnitude to both E. tenella and E. acervulina antigens. This indicates that the lack of cross-protection is not due to the lack of cross-reactive T cells.
