Comparison of immunomodulatory functions of three peptides from the chicken bursa of Fabricius.

The bursa of Fabricius (BF) is the acknowledged central humoral immune organ unique to birds which plays important roles in B cell development and antibody production. Little information on immunomodulatory functions of BF is reported, except for several reported active bursal-derived peptides. Three peptides were identified and characterized from BF through RP-HPLC and MADIL-TOF methods. They are named as bursal peptide (BP)-I, BP-II, BP-III. These peptides promoted CFU pre-B formation and decreased PU.1 expression. The different immunomodulatory activities of these three bursal peptides on antibody and cytokine productions were verified by the immunization comparative experiment. The results showed the three bursal peptides enhanced AIV-specific antibody and cytokine production, T-cell immunophenotyping at reachable concentrations. These results indicate the important orientations for the comprehensive understanding of the humoral central immune system, and provide a novel insight on new experimental reagents for immuno-adjuvant or immunopharmacological.