Cytokines, a family of small proteins secreted by cells play a major and decisive role in immunity and has pleiotropic effects on different cells. Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) are important cells which play critical role in activation of both innate and adaptive immune responses. Cytokine expression varies with different breeds of chickens and this expression plays a critical role in modulation of immune responses in host. In our study, the basal level expression of different

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... ines were assessed in chicken PBMCs (ex vivo) by quantitative real time PCR and comparison between different breeds were determined namely broiler, White Leghorn, and Indigenous Kadaknath. Type I Interferon (IFN) (IFN-β), Th1 cytokine (IFN-γ) and pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL) (IL-1β) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in chicken PBMCs were quantified in this study. Constitutive expression of IFN-β, iNOS were significantly (p < 0.01) higher in WL than that of Kadaknath and broiler birds. While, Kadaknath birds have shown significant up-regulation (p < 0.05) of IL-1β expression. This study suggests that constitutive expression of immune related genes vary with different breeds and can contribute to the differential disease resistance among these breeds. All copyrights reserved to Nexus® academic publishers