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Black-Headed Gull IFN-γ Reduced Newcastle Disease Virus RNA in Cultured Immune Cells

Black-headed gull flying with wings spread
Research · Molecular biology & biochemistry

Recombinant interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) from black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) reduced Newcastle disease virus RNA in cultured gull immune cells. The study, published on 11 August 2026, supports an antiviral effect under laboratory conditions, but it does not show that IFN-γ protects infected birds in the wild.

IFN-γ is a type II interferon that helps coordinate antiviral immune responses and links parts of the innate and adaptive immune systems. The recombinant IFN-γ used here was a laboratory-produced version of the gull protein made from its cloned coding sequence. The researchers used peripheral blood lymphocytes from 100 black-headed gulls, cloned the gull IFN-γ coding sequence and produced recombinant protein for cell experiments. Newcastle disease virus activated several immune genes, including TLR7, MyD88 and IRF7. TLR7 detects single-stranded viral RNA, while MyD88 and IRF7 help carry that signal toward interferon responses. The antiviral effector gene Mx was also activated.

One IFN-γ dose was selected for the antiviral test

The researchers tested three IFN-γ concentrations. The middle dose, 200 nanograms per millilitre, produced the highest TLR7 transcript level and was therefore used in the antiviral experiment. Lymphocytes treated with this IFN-γ before virus exposure contained less RNA from the viral nucleoprotein gene, NDV NP, after 48 and 60 hours than cells exposed to the virus alone.

At 48 hours, transcription of TLR7, MyD88, IRF7, IFN-α and Mx was also lower in cells receiving both IFN-γ and virus than in the virus-only group. The authors suggest that this may reflect weaker stimulation of the immune pathway because less viral material remained in the cells. The experiment did not directly show that the antiviral effect depended on the TLR7–MyD88–IRF7 pathway.

Lower viral RNA did not prove the mechanism

The limits are important. The functional tests were performed only in cultured lymphocytes, and the antiviral effect was inferred mainly from the amount of NDV NP RNA. Infectious-virus titres were not measured after IFN-γ treatment. The study therefore shows anti-NDV activity in vitro of black-headed gull IFN-γ and an association with changes in immune-gene transcription, rather than a demonstrated treatment effect in living birds or a fully established molecular mechanism.

Sources and image credit

  1. Functional characterization of the IFN-γ protein in mediating antiviral defence against Newcastle disease Virus in Larus ridibundusPeer-reviewed in-vitro study of recombinant black-headed gull IFN-γ and Newcastle disease virus in primary gull lymphocytes.

Image: Diliff / Wikimedia Commons — black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in St James's Park, London, UK; representative species image, not one of the birds used in the laboratory study · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source

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Molecular biology & biochemistry

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