Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is a highly oncogenic alphaherpesvirus that causes deadly T-cell lymphomas and serves as a natural virus-induced tumor model in chickens. Although Marek’s disease (MD) is well controlled by current vaccines, the evolution of MDV field viruses towards increasing virulence is concerning as a better vaccine to combat very virulent plus MDV is still lacking. Our understanding of molecular and cellular immunity to MDV and its immunopathogenesis has significantly improved, but those findings about cellular immunity to MDV are largely out-of-date, hampering the development of more effective vaccines against MD. T-cell-mediated cellular immunity was thought to be of paramount importance against MDV. However, MDV also infects macrophages, B cells and T cells, leading to immunosuppression and T-cell lymphoma. Additionally, there is limited information about how uninfected immune cells respond to MDV infection or vaccination, specifically, the mechanisms by which T cells are activated and recognize MDV antigens and how the function and properties of activated T cells correlate with immune protection against MDV or MD tumor. The current review revisits the roles of each immune cell subset and its effector mechanisms in the host immune response to MDV infection or vaccination from the point of view of comparative immunology. We particularly emphasize areas of research requiring further investigation and provide useful information for rational design and development of novel MDV vaccines.

马立克氏病病毒 (MDV) 是一种高度致癌的甲型疱疹病毒，可引起致命的 T 细胞淋巴瘤，并可作为天然病毒诱导的鸡肿瘤模型。尽管目前的疫苗可以很好地控制马立克氏病（MD），但马立克氏病野病毒向毒力增强的演变令人担忧，因为仍然缺乏对抗高毒力加马立克氏病的更好疫苗。我们对MDV分子和细胞免疫及其免疫发病机制的了解已显着提高，但有关MDV细胞免疫的发现基本上已经过时，阻碍了更有效的MD疫苗的开发。 T 细胞介导的细胞免疫被认为对于对抗 MDV 至关重要。然而，MDV 也会感染巨噬细胞、B 细胞和 T 细胞，导致免疫抑制和 T 细胞淋巴瘤。此外，关于未感染的免疫细胞如何响应 MDV 感染或疫苗接种的信息有限，特别是 T 细胞被激活和识别 MDV 抗原的机制，以及激活的 T 细胞的功能和特性如何与针对 MDV 或 MD 的免疫保护相关联。瘤。本综述从比较免疫学的角度重新审视了每个免疫细胞亚群及其效应机制在宿主对MDV感染或疫苗接种的免疫反应中的作用。我们特别强调需要进一步研究的研究领域，并为合理设计和开发新型 MDV 疫苗提供有用的信息。