Nanoparticle-Based Antiviral Vaccines for Chickens: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Viral diseases in chickens, such as avian influenza, Newcastle disease, and infectious bronchitis, cause significant economic losses to the global chicken industry, while the cross-species transmission risks of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) pose potential threats to public health security. Conventional inactivated vaccines and live attenuated vaccines exhibit limitations in terms of protective coverage, immunization duration, and safety profiles, necessitating the development of novel vaccine strategies. In recent years, the application of nanotechnology has been bringing new opportunities for chicken vaccine development. As innovative vaccine carriers, nanoparticles demonstrate unique advantages through their size effects, surface modifiability, and antigen-loading capacity, enabling precise regulation of antigen delivery efficiency and enhance innate immune responses via activation of pattern recognition receptors. This review summarizes recent advancements in nanoparticle-based vaccines for chickens, with particular emphasis on nanocarrier design principles, immunological mechanisms, and protective efficacy. The potential of these systems to improve immune responses and extend protective duration is systematically analyzed, with future research priorities outlined to guide the development of next-generation chicken vaccines.