Effect of vian interleukin - 2 on humoral immune response in chicken vaccinated against New Castle disease virus

An experiment was conducted to determine the adjuvanticity of avian IL-2 administered in conjuction with a NDV vaccination in chickens. A total of 70. day old commercial layer chickens were divided into three groups (A, B and C). The chickens in Group - A (30 Chicks) and group-B (30 chicks) were vaccinated with F strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) by intraocular and intranasah routes on 7^th day and 4^th week, whereas with K strain of NDV by subcutaneous route on 9^th week while group-C (10 chicks) remained as unvaccinated control.

The chicks in group-A (treatment group) were administered with interleukin-2 (IL-2) @ 2.5 μ/kg body weight per day by intramuscular route for 4 subsequent days after each vaccination, while group-B remained as vaccinated control. Blood samples were collected from each bird after every vaccination on 6^th, 12^th and 18^th day from all groups.

The results of the humoral immune response, based on HI, SRID and SRH, showed higher levels of antibody in group-A (treatment group) while compared to group-B and C. The overall results indicated that chicken inoculated with IL-2 after each vaccination against NDV showed higher protective levels of humoral immune response. The result thus advocated that IL-2 may be used as an immunomodulator for enhancing the immunity against NDV vaccination.