RESUMEN
The present study deals with the co-ordination of cytokine(IL-4 and IFN-γ) expression and kinetics of peste des petits ruminants(PPR) virus antigen and antibody in PPRV infected and vaccinated goats.The infected animals exhibited mixed cytokine(both TH1 and TH2) responses in the initial phase of the disease.The infected and dead goats had increased IFN-γ response before their death; while IL-4 remained at the base level.The cytokine expression in recovered animals was almost similar to that of vaccinated ones,where a unique biphasic response of IL-4 expression was observed with an up-regulation of IFN-γ on 7th days post vaccination(dpv).Analysis of PPR virus antigen and antibody kinetics in different components of blood from infected and vaccinated animals revealed that the PPR virus antigen load was highest in plasma followed by serum and blood of the infected animals,whereas vaccinated animals showed only marginal positivity on 9th dpv.The antibody titer was high in serum followed by plasma and blood in both vaccinated and infected animals.Therefore,it is inferred that the presence of antigen and antibody were significant with the expression of cytokine,and that a decreased response of IL-4 was noticed during intermediate phase of the disease i.e.,7 to 12th days post infection(dpi).This indicates the ability to mount a functional TH2 response after 14th dpi could be a critical determinant in deciding the survival of the PPR infected animal.