Transcriptional profiling of host gene expression in chicken embryo fibroblasts infected with Reticuloendotheliosis virus strain HA1101

Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), a member of the Gammaretrovirus genus in the Retroviridae family, causes an immunosuppressive, oncogenic and runting-stunting syndrome in multiple avian hosts. To better understand the host interactions at the transcriptional level, microarray data analysis was performed in chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after infection with REV. This study identified numerous differentially expressed genes that were classified into several functional groups. Significant differences were mainly observed in the expression of genes involved in the immune response, especially during the later post-infection time points. These results revealed that differentially expressed genes play important roles in the pathogenicity of REV infection. Our study is the first to use microarray analysis to investigate REV, and these findings provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of the host antiviral response and the molecular basis of viral pathogenesis. Infection of Reticuloendotheliosis virus induced gene expression in chicken fibroblasts was measured at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days post-infection after exposure to a multiplicity of infection of 1. Both infection group and non-infection group experiments were performed for 3 independent replicates at each time point.