Vaccination with affinity‐purified glycoproteins protects chickens against infectious laryngotracheitis herpesvirus

Abstract

Glycoproteins of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) were purified from detergent extracts of virus‐infected cells by lectin affinity chromatography. In these preparations, glycoproteins of 205, 160, 115, 90, 85, 74, 60 and 50 kDa were recognized by immune chicken serum in Western blotting. Vaccination of chickens with these ILTV glycoproteins protected up to 83% of chickens against replication of the challenge virus as demonstrated by the absence of viral antigen in the trachea. Both neutralizing antibody and delayed‐type hypersensitivity responses were induced by vaccination with glycoprotein preparations, but neither correlated with protection.