Chicken toll-like receptors and their significance in immune response and disease resistance

Abstract

Infectious diseases are a major challenge for the poultry industry that causes widespread production losses. Thus, management and control of poultry health and diseases are essential for the viability of the industry. Toll-like receptors are best characterized as membrane-bound receptors that perform a central role in immune homeostasis and disease resistance by recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. In response to pathogen recognition, TLRs initiate both innate and adaptive immune responses which may help to develop immunomodulatory therapeutics for TLR associated diseases. Vaccination produces specific immunity in the animal’s body towards pathogens. However, due to certain disadvantages of vaccines, (inactivation of attenuated pathogens into the virulent strains and weak immunogenicity of inactivated vaccines) there is a crucial need to develop the safe and effective therapeutic intervention. TLR ligands have been classified as a potential adjuvant against the infectious diseases in farm animals. TLR adjuvants induce both specific and nonspecific immune responses in chickens to combat several bacterial, viral and parasitic diseases. Therefore, the aim of this review was to explore the chicken TLR4 and their role in immune responses and disease resistance to develop disease resistance poultry breeds in future.

Keywords:

• Toll-like receptors
• poultry health
• infectious diseases
• immune response
• diseases resistance

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Journal for providing an opportunity to share knowledge on the specific issues of chicken toll-like receptors and their significance in immune response and disease resistance. The author wishes to thank beloved teachers, parents (Rana Nawab Ahmad and Mrs. R. Sultana), grandparents (Saith Bachal Din), uncle (Rana Maqbool Ahmad) and brother (Rana Kashif Nawab) for continued support and excellent mentorship.

Declaration of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (2010 B090400376).

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

Authors’ contributions

The author wrote the main text of the manuscript. The coauthors have collected the data, contributed to the design, drafting, and revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

According to rules and regulation of Animal Care Committee of Guangdong Ocean University (Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China)

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (2010 B090400376).