Correlates of immune protection in chickens vaccinated with Mycoplasma gallisepticum strain GT5 following challenge with pathogenic M. gallisepticum strain R_low

Colonization of the avian respiratory tract with Mycoplasma gallisepticum results in a profound inflammatory response in the trachea, air sacs, conjunctiva, and lungs. A live attenuated M. gallisepticum vaccine strain, GT5, was previously shown to be protective in chickens upon challenge; however, the mechanisms by which this vaccine and others confer protection remain largely unknown. The current study evaluated several potential correlates of GT5 vaccine-mediated immune protection following challenge with the pathogenic M. gallisepticum strain R_low. GT5-vaccinated chickens developed mild tracheal lesions, consisting of few and scattered, discrete, lymphofollicular aggregates in the lamina propria. In addition, low numbers of aggregated B, CD4⁺, and CD8⁺ cells were observed to infiltrate the trachea, in stark contrast to the large numbers infiltrating the tracheas of sham-vaccinated chickens challenged with R_low. Lymphofollicular aggregates were rarely observed prior to day 12 postchallenge in sham-vaccinated chickens. Instead, they contained an increasingly more cellular inflammatory response characterized by expansion of the lamina propria by lymphoplasmacytic and histiocytic infiltrates. This was due in part to expansion of interfollicular zones by large numbers of infiltrating CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ cells and a sizeable population of immunoglobulin A (IgA)- and IgG-secreting plasma cells. GT5-vaccinated chickens also had higher serum IgG concentrations, and significantly higher numbers of M. gallisepticum-specific IgG- and IgA-secreting plasma/B cells within the trachea, than did sham-vaccinated chickens. These responses were observed as early as day 4 postchallenge, indicating the importance of antibody-mediated clearance of mycoplasma in GT5-vaccinated chickens.