Differential effects of lipopolysaccharide and lipoteichoic acid on the primary antibody response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin of chickens selected for high or low antibody responses to sheep red blood cells.

Various bacterial components are potent activators of the innate immune system and probably (in)directly determine subsequent specific immune responses. Therefore, effects of i.v. administered Salmonella enteriditis-derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Staphylococcus aureus-derived lipoteichoic acid (LTA), respectively, on the primary antibody (Ab) response to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) were studied in cocks from 2 lines divergently selected for high (H line) and low (L line) Ab responses to SRBC. The Ab responses to KLH were significantly affected by a line-by-treatment-by-time interaction. Significantly higher Ab titers to KLH, S. aureus LTA, and S. enteriditis LPS were found in H line birds than in the L line birds. Ab titers to KLH were enhanced if the chickens were intravenously pretreated 24 h earlier with LTA but decreased if the chickens were intravenously pretreated 24 h earlier with LPS. Ab responses to S. enteriditis LPS were significantly enhanced when birds were immunized with KLH or pretreated with S. aureus LTA. Ab responses to S. aureus LTA were also significantly enhanced when birds were immunized with KLH or pretreated with LTA and subsequently immunized with KLH. Our findings suggest that LTA and LPS have immunomodulatory features in chickens, albeit in opposite directions. In addition, KLH acted in an immunomodulatory role too. Possible mechanisms underlying our observations and the role of LTA and LPS in polarization of the specific immune response in chickens are discussed.