Coccidiosis control in broilers – immunity through sub-unit vaccines

Intracellular protozoan parasites of genus Eimeria cause coccidiosis in chickens, which is the economically most important disease in commercial broiler production. The project aim is to use new knowledge on Eimeria and on the chicken immune response generated through studies of host-parasite interactions to produce and evaluate new subunit vaccine candidates against the infection. We will 1) study the important early innate immune activation in detail at the transcriptome level in parasite infected tissue ex vivo; 2) identify chicken immune cells that produce IFN-g upon Eimeria infection, which is a key function for induction of protective immunity; 3) generate new knowledge on Eimeria gene expression during early infection and use this to identify parasite proteins of putative value as vaccine antigens or adjuvants; 4) evaluate potential adjuvants for induction of protective activation of chicken immune cells in vitro and to evaluate new sub-unit vaccine candidates for induction of correct immune responses and protection against infection in vivo. Our results will identify potential new means to control poultry coccidiosis, which will improve animal health and welfare, the economy of the poultry producers and in the long run contribute to improving global food resources. Furthermore, knowledge gained from these studies will contribute to the general understanding of immunity to Apicompexan parasites and to the field of chicken immunology.