Marek’s disease virus is an economically important avian herpesvirus that causes tumors and immunosuppression in chickens and turkeys. The virus, disease, and vaccines have been known for more than 50 years, but as knowledge gaps still exists, intensive research is still ongoing. The understanding of MDV complexity can provide scientific insight in topics that cannot be experimented in humans, providing a unique model that is dually useful for the benefit of the poultry industry and for studying general herpesvirology. The present review presents the following topics: the MDV biology, the vaccine’s and virulent virus’ peculiar presence in feathers, protection by vaccination. In addition, two relatively behind the scenes topics are reviewed; first, the meq MDV oncogene and its recent implication in molecular epidemiology and in the MDV virulence determination, and second, the functionality of conformational epitopes of the MDV immunodominant protein, glycoprotein B. Our studies were particular, as they were the only ones describing three-dimensional MDV gB oligomers. MDV gB (glycoprotein B) continuous and discontinuous epitopes were shown to possess distinctive neutralization activities. In contrast, the significance of oligomerization of the viral membrane proteins for the creation of discontinuous epitopes in other herpesviruses was explored extensively.

中文翻译：

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看不见，但并没有忘记：禽致癌疱疹病毒、马立克氏病病毒的各个方面。


马立克氏病病毒是一种经济上重要的禽类疱疹病毒，可引起鸡和火鸡的肿瘤和免疫抑制。人们对病毒、疾病和疫苗的了解已有 50 多年，但由于知识差距仍然存在，深入研究仍在进行中。对 MDV 复杂性的理解可以为无法在人类身上进行实验的主题提供科学见解，提供一种独特的模型，该模型对于家禽业的利益和研究一般疱疹病毒学双重有用。本综述提出以下主题：MDV 生物学、疫苗和强毒病毒在羽毛中的特殊存在、疫苗接种的保护。此外，还回顾了两个相对幕后的话题；首先，meq MDV 癌基因及其在分子流行病学和 MDV 毒力测定中的最新意义；其次，MDV 免疫显性蛋白、糖蛋白 B 的构象表位的功能。我们的研究很特别，因为它们是唯一描述三个的研究维 MDV gB 寡聚物。 MDV gB（糖蛋白 B）连续和不连续表位被证明具有独特的中和活性。相比之下，病毒膜蛋白寡聚化对于在其他疱疹病毒中产生不连续表位的重要性进行了广泛的探索。