마렉병 바이러스의 분자적 병리기전과 증가하는 병원성에 대한 제어 방안

Marek's disease (MD) is caused by a ubiquitous, lymphotropic alphaherpesvirus, MD virus (MDV). MD has been a major concern in the poultry industry due to the emergence of increasingly virulent strains over the last few decades that were isolated in the face of comprehensive vaccination. MD is characterized by a variety of clinical signs, amongst them neurological symptoms, chronic wasting, and most notably the development of multiple lymphomas that manifest as solid tumors in the viscera and musculature. Much work has been devoted to study MD-induced oncogenesis and genes involved in this process. Among the many genes encoded by MDV, a number have recently been shown to affect the development of tumors in chickens, one protein directly causing transformation of cells (Meq) and another being involved in maintaining transformed cells (vTR). Other MDV gene products modulate and are involved in early lytic in vivo replication, thereby increasing the chance of transformation occurring. In this review, specific genes encoded by MDV that are involved in the initiation and/or maintenance of transformation were briefly summarized, and limits of current vaccination and new control strategies against MD, particularly how modern molecular biological methods may be used to improve strategies to combat the disease in the future, were discussed.