Formulation and delivery of immunostimulatory oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODN) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) against poultry diseases.

人们普遍认为，预防疾病比治疗疾病更好。由于一些食品安全和人类健康问题，这一点变得尤为重要。动物疾病的日益增加使人们关注基于免疫的疾病保护方法。疫苗是一种众所周知的指导免疫系统以改善疾病保护的方法，但它们对某些疾病不可用，并且当需要立即保护作用时无效，例如，面对疾病的爆发 因此，需要替代策略来诱导保护性免疫。 免疫系统的“第一反应者”或先天性组成部分通过将感染性生物体的特征识别为“危险”信号来检测感染。 这会迅速引发一种能够限制各种感染的反应（不像疫苗只针对它们所开发的疾病）。 这些危险信号之一是细菌DNA的特征模式，称为CpG基序。 这种模式可以在称为寡核苷酸（ODN）的小片段DNA中合成，其适合于施用给动物。该研究计划将确定是否CpG-ODN与碳纳米管（CNT）一起配制将增强鸡对常见细菌和病毒性疾病的免疫保护。我们将使用CNT配制的CpG ODN给鸡，同时还在蛋中，从而避免其他环境刺激对免疫系统的复杂影响。我们还将通过新生鸡的口服和鼻腔途径递送CpG-ODN-CNT制剂，以刺激鸡的先天免疫系统。我们将寻找先天免疫激活的证据，例如开启对免疫反应协调重要的基因，以及产生抗病毒活性等功能。之前，我们已经证明了CpG-ODN对新生和成年鸡的致死性细菌感染具有显著的保护作用，并且拟议的研究计划将探索CpG-ODN-CNT制剂对鸡常见细菌和病毒感染的免疫刺激作用。

It is generally accepted that it is better to prevent disease than to treat it. This has become especially important due to a number of food safety and human health issues. An increasing emergence of diseases in animals has focused attention on immune based methods of disease protection. Vaccines are a well known method to direct the immune system for improved disease protection, but they are not available for some diseases and are not effective when an immediate protective effect is required, e.g., in the face of an disease outbreak. Therefore, alternate strategies to induce protective immunity are required. The "first responder" or innate component of the immune system detects infection by recognizing features characteristic of infectious organisms as "danger" signals. This quickly triggers a response capable of limiting a variety of infections (unlike vaccines which protect only against the disease for which they were developed). One of these danger signals is a pattern characteristic of bacterial DNA, known as CpG motifs. This pattern can be synthesized in small pieces of DNA known as oligonucleotides (ODN), which are suitable for administration to animals. The proposed research program will determine if CpG-ODN formulated with carbon nanotubes (CNT) will enhance the immunoprotection against common bacterial and viral diseases of chickens. We will administer CpG ODN formulated with CNTs to chicks while still in the egg, thus avoiding the complicating effects of other environmental stimuli on the immune system. We will also deliver CpG-ODN-CNT formulations by the oral and nasal routes of neonatal chickens to stimulate the innate immune system of chickens. We will look for evidence of activation of innate immunity, such as the turning on genes important for immune response coordination, and functions such as production of antiviral activity. Previously, we have demonstrated a significant protective effect of CpG-ODN against lethal bacterial infections in neonatal and adult chickens, and proposed research program will explore immunostimulatory effect of CpG-ODN-CNT formulations against common bacterial and viral infections in chickens.