Autoimmune diseases in horses refer to conditions where the horse's immune system mistakenly targets its own tissues, leading to inflammation and tissue damage. These diseases can affect various systems in the body, including the skin, joints, and blood cells. Common autoimmune conditions in horses include pemphigus foliaceus, equine recurrent uveitis, and immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. Diagnosis often involves a combination of clinical signs, laboratory tests, and histopathological examination. Management of autoimmune diseases typically includes immunosuppressive therapies to reduce immune system activity. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of autoimmune diseases in equine health.
Deeg CA.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a wide spread disease of the eye, which is the main cause for blindness in horses worldwide. Meanwhile, ERU is also accepted as the only reliable spontaneous model for human autoimmune uveitis. We identified and characterized novel autoantigens by analyzing the autoantibody-binding pattern from ERU cases to the retinal proteome. Cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein (CRALBP) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) were detected as novel ERU autoantigens by this approach. B- and T-cell autoreactivity was detected to both autoantigens in ERU cases. The evaluation of the...
Deeg CA, Hauck SM, Amann B, Pompetzki D, Altmann F, Raith A, Schmalzl T, Stangassinger M, Ueffing M.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an autoimmune disease that occurs with a high prevalence (10%) in horses. ERU represents the only reliable spontaneous model for human autoimmune uveitis. We already identified and characterized novel autoantigens (malate dehydrogenase, recoverin, CRALBP) by analyzing the autoantibody-binding pattern of horses affected by spontaneous recurrent uveitis (ERU) to the retinal proteome. CRALBP also seems to be relevant to human autoimmune uveitis. Proteomic screening of vitreous and retinal samples from ERU diseased cases in comparison to healthy controls has led t...
Deeg CA, Hauck SM, Amann B, Kremmer E, Stangassinger M, Ueffing M.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a valuable model for autoimmune diseases, since it develops frequently and occurs spontaneously. We investigated the overall expression level of three major retinal autoantigens in normal retinas and various ERU stages. Analysis of retinal proteomes of both, healthy and diseased retinas revealed an almost unaffected expression of IRBP, S-antigen and cRALBP in ERU cases. Validation of these findings with western blots and immunohistochemistry confirmed constant to increased expression of these autoantigens, although loss of their physiological expression sites ...
Hauck SM, Schoeffmann S, Amann B, Stangassinger M, Gerhards H, Ueffing M, Deeg CA.Spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an incurable autoimmune disease affecting the eye. Although retinal-autoantigen specific T-helper 1 cells have been demonstrated to trigger disease progression and relapses, the molecular processes leading to retinal degeneration and consequent blindness remain unknown. To elucidate such processes, we studied changes in the total retinal proteome of ERU-diseased horses compared to healthy controls. Severe changes in the retinal proteome were found for several markers for blood-retinal barrier breakdown and whose emergence depended upon disease seve...
Deeg CA, Pompetzki D, Raith AJ, Hauck SM, Amann B, Suppmann S, Goebel TW, Olazabal U, Gerhards H, Reese S, Stangassinger M, Kaspers B, Ueffing M.The development, progression, and recurrence of autoimmune diseases are frequently driven by a group of participatory autoantigens. We identified and characterized novel autoantigens by analyzing the autoantibody binding pattern from horses affected by spontaneous equine recurrent uveitis to the retinal proteome. Cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein (cRALBP) had not been described previously as autoantigen, but subsequent characterization in equine recurrent uveitis horses revealed B and T cell autoreactivity to this protein and established a link to epitope spreading. We further immunized h...
Perillo A, Passantino G, Passantino L, Cianciotta A, Mastrosimini AM, Lacovazzi P, Venezia P, Jirillo E, Troncone A.Among 622 slaughtered horses from eastern Europe, 156 thyroid glands were selected on the basis of macroscopic alterations (e.g., determination of volume and weight). In the 80% of these thyroids, microscopic alterations consistent with a diagnosis of Hashimoto thyroiditis-like disease were found. In particular, a subverted architecture of the thyroid gland with colloid rarefaction, lymphocytic infiltration, and fibrosis was noted. The confirmation of the histopathological diagnosis of an equine Hashimoto thyroiditis-like disease was provided by the increased serum concentration of thyroglobul...
Eby G.Arthritis is inflammation in a joint often with joint damage, usually accompanied by pain, swelling and stiffness, resulting from infection, trauma, degenerative changes, metabolic disturbances, autoimmune or other causes. It occurs in various forms, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, bacterial arthritis and gout. Gallium III can inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1beta, produced by macrophage-like cells in vitro. A dose-dependent inhibition of IL-1beta and TPA stimulated MMP activity by gallium nitrate at increasing concentrations occurs, demonstrating t...
Jongbloets AM, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Meeus PJ, Back W.Equine canker is a chronic, hyperplastic, exudative pododermatitis affecting one or more feet. Although many causes and treatments have been suggested, the cause of the disease is still unknown and most probably multifactorial. Local treatments include radical surgical debridement of the diseased hoof tissue and application of caustic substances, antibiotics, and pressure bandaging. Nevertheless, the number of recurrences is high (45%). This article presents a 3-year-old New Forest pony-cross mare in which all horny structures (frogs, coronets, spurs, chestnuts) of all feet were affected. Bact...
Selected equine cutaneous diseases for which there is strong evidence of an immunological aetiology are discussed in this section. The reactive disorders of urticaria, Culicoides hypersensitivity, erythema multiforme, drug eruptions and systemic granulomatous disease are included. The autoimmune diseases of the horse with cutaneous manifestations (pemphigus foliaceus, pemphigus vulgaris, bullous pemphigoid and cutaneous lupus erythematosus) are discussed. The clinical signs and diagnostic features of these immunologically induced equine dermatoses are defined, and the challenges in making a de...
Olivry T, Borrillo AK, Xu L, Dunston SM, Slovis NM, Affolter VK, Demanuelle TC, Chan LS.Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepithelial blistering dermatosis of humans, dogs, cats and pigs. It is characterized by skin-fixed and circulating IgG autoantibodies that target one or both BP antigens. An immunological homologue of BP in humans was diagnosed in two horses with cutaneous and mucosal ulcerations as well as microscopic subepithelial vesiculation. Immunological investigations revealed similar findings for both the horses. Direct immunofluorescence demonstrated the presence of IgG deposited linearly at the dermoepidermal junction in mucosal and skin biopsy specimens. I...
Yamaguchi K, Sawada T, Naraki T, Igata-Yi R, Shiraki H, Horii Y, Ishii T, Ikeda K, Asou N, Okabe H, Mochizuki M, Takahashi K, Yamada S, Kubo K....The prevalence of Borna disease virus (BDV)-specific antibodies among patients with psychiatric disorders and healthy individuals has varied in several reports using several different serological assay methods. A reliable and specific method for anti-BDV antibodies needs to be developed to clarify the pathological significance of BDV infections in humans. We developed a new electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) for the antibody to BDV that uses two recombinant proteins of BDV, p40 and p24 (full length). Using this ECLIA, we examined 3,476 serum samples from humans with various diseases ...
Carter SD, Osborne AC, May SA, Bennett D.To consider the hypothesis that autoimmune mechanisms may contribute to the pathology of equine joint diseases, 3 autoimmune responses were assayed in sera and synovial fluids. IgM-rheumatoid factor and antibodies to heat shock protein 65 kDa were determined by ELISA; anti-nuclear antibodies were assayed by indirect immunofluorescence to whole cell nuclear components. All parameters showed only modest increases, if any and not in a pattern related to disease, although some statistically significant increases were detected. Group analysis showed significantly elevated synovial fluid IgM-rheumat...
Osborne AC, Carter SD, May SA, Bennett D.An investigation was made into the possible contribution of autoimmune mechanisms to equine arthropathies. Serum and synovial fluid (SF) immune complexes and anti-collagen Type II antibodies were measured, by ELISA, in groups of horses with naturally occurring osteoarthritis (OA), osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), bone fracture, traumatised joints, synovitis, infected joints and non-diseased (control) joints. Significantly raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies were found in osteoarthritic (P < 0.02) and traumatised joint synovial fluids (P < 0.01) compared with the control, where ten of...
Teuscher C, Kenney RM, Cummings MR, Catten M.In this study, 2 stallions were immunised with their own spermatozoa to ascertain whether an antisperm autoantibody response could be mounted. The results demonstrated that the stallion can recognise and respond to sperm autoantigens by producing circulating antisperm antibodies, primarily of the IgG class. Such autoantibodies appeared 2-4 weeks after inoculation and persisted for 6-20 weeks. Immunochemical characterisation by western blot identified two major sperm autoantigens, with molecular weights of 70 kD and 62 kD. Control pony stallions immunised with adjuvants alone failed to exhibit ...
Papa FO, Alvarenga MA, Lopes MD, Campos Filho EP.THE immunogenicity of mammalian sperm has been recognised since the beginning of this century. In 1909, Adler induced autoantibodies in the serum of guinea pigs by injecting them with their own spermatozoa. Nowadays, the concept of
immunologically privileged sites is well understood and any disruption which allows antigenic contact with the immune system may give rise to an immune response. For example, failure
of the blood/testes barrier following infection, trauma or surgery can lead to the production of antisperm antibodies as a result of spermatozoa coming in contact with the immune syst...
Mair TS, Taylor FG, Hillyer MH.Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia was diagnosed in eight horses on the basis of a positive Coomb's test. The disease was considered to be idiopathic in three cases and secondary to another condition in five. The clinical signs included dullness and depression, pyrexia, jaundice and haemoglobinuria. In addition to anaemia, haematological evaluation commonly revealed auto-agglutination of red cells and anisocytosis; reticulocytosis and an increased mean corpuscular volume were less commonly observed. Four horses were successfully treated with dexamethasone, but the other four were destroyed or died ...
Pfeiffer CJ, Spurlock S, Ball M.Pemphigus foliaceus is an uncommon dermatologic disorder occurring in several species and has been reported in horses during the past decade. An ultrastructural analysis of affected skin of horses presenting to our clinics has revealed early cytopathologic features of pemphigus-like disease, some of which closely resemble pemphigus foliaceus in the human, calve, and guinea pig. Prior to complete acantholysis and bullae formation, the intercellular spaces enlarged, but intercellular bridges and desmosomes remained intact. A novel finding was presence of aggregates of electron dense granular mat...
Naughton GK, Mahaffey M, Bystryn JC.All of 24 animals (dogs, cats, and horses) with vitiligo were found to have antibodies to pigmented cells that could be detected by specific immunoprecipitation of radioiodinated, detergent-soluble surface macromolecules, and by indirect immunofluorescence on viable cells. These antibodies were not detected in 17 normal animals of the same species. The antibodies were directed to an 85-kDa surface antigen selectively expressed by pigmented cells that was not present on nonpigmented control cells. These observations suggest that vitiligo in animals is an autoimmune disease mediated to pigmented...
Georgadze IA, Nozadze ZM.The hyperimmunization of horses with large doses of tetanus toxoid is accompanied by an increase in the levels of both specific antitoxic antibodies and autoantibodies to the tissue antigens of the liver, the spleen, the heart. The reverse relationship between the level of autoantibodies and the titer of antitoxin has been established. The authors suggest that the synthesis of autoantibodies is stimulated by the presence of antigen-antibody immune complexes in the circulating blood, as well as by the action of exo- and endopolyclonal stimulators.
Day MJ, Penhale WJ.Skin biopsies from 47 dogs, 6 cats and 5 horses with suspected autoimmune skin disease were submitted for immunofluorescence from 1978 to 1985. These cases were predominantly Western Australian in origin, although a number were also referred from Queensland and Victoria. In 5 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses immunoglobulin binding to intercellular cement substance and/or basement membrane was demonstrated by direct immunofluorescence. Antinuclear antibody was also demonstrated in several of these cases. Immunofluorescence was used in combination with histopathological examination to confirm the clini...
Pomorski Z, Pinkiewicz E, Grzebuła S.In the studies attempts were to demonstrate the occurrence of immunological reactivity against antigens of the lens and tunica vascularis of the eye in periodical inflammation of eyes in horses. For this purpose antigens from the lens and tunica vascularis of the eye, prepared in our laboratory, were used in the experiments. The reactivity of horses with monthly symptoms of blindness against the above antigens was determined in vivo (skin tests and PCA) and in vitro (ID reaction). The results obtained mainly in skin tests account for its occurrence in some percentage of diseased animals, becau...
Scott DW, Wolfe MJ, Smith CA, Lewis RM.In a review of non-viral bullous skin diseases of domestic animals and a 4-year study of cases presented to the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, we found 15 diseases: pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigus vegetans, pemphigus foliaceus, pemphigus erythematosus, bullous pemphigoid, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatitis herpetiformis, toxic epidermal necrolysis, drug eruption, epidermolysis bullosa, epidermolysis bullosa simplex, familial acantholysis, bovine congenital porphyria, impetigo and subcorneal pustular dermatosis. The 15 diseases were placed in five categories: autoimmune, imm...
Fernandez C, Möller G.After a primary immune response to the alpha 1-6 epitope of dextran B512, dextran high responder strains exhibit a specific inability to produce IgM and IgG antibodies against this epitope, although they gave an expected secondary response to horse erythrocytes. Spleen cells from dextran-primed and-suppressed mice responded well to dextran after transfer to lethally irradiated previously untreated mice, indicating that tolerance or exhaustive proliferation of dextran reactive B cells is not responsible. Thymus-dependent dextran-protein conjugates also induced specific suppression. Suppression ...
Swadzba ME, Hirmer S, Amann B, Hauck SM, Deeg CA.Although the presence of IgG autoantibodies in the vitreous of spontaneous cases of equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) has been demonstrated, the potential role of IgM reactivities during ERU pathogenesis remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine the presence of IgM autoantibodies in vitreous specimens of ERU-affected horses and to test their binding specificity to intraocularly expressed proteins. Methods: To test IgM autoantibody responses to retinal tissue, vitreous samples of eye-healthy controls and ERU patients were analyzed via two-dimensional Western blot analysis with e...
Eby G.Arthritis is inflammation in a joint often with joint damage, usually accompanied by pain, swelling and stiffness, resulting from infection, trauma, degenerative changes, metabolic disturbances, autoimmune or other causes. It occurs in various forms, including rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, bacterial arthritis and gout. Gallium III can inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1beta, produced by macrophage-like cells in vitro. A dose-dependent inhibition of IL-1beta and TPA stimulated MMP activity by gallium nitrate at increasing concentrations occurs, demonstrating t...
Kingsley NB, Sandmeyer L, Bellone RR.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an ocular inflammatory disease that can be difficult to manage clinically. As such, it is the leading cause of bilateral blindness for horses. ERU is suspected to have a complex autoimmune etiology with both environmental and genetic risk factors contributing to onset and disease progression in some or all cases. Work in recent years has aimed at unraveling the primary triggers, such as infectious agents and inherited breed-specific risk factors, for disease onset, persistence, and progression. This review has aimed at encompassing those factors that have been...
Rosenkrantz W.Pemphigus foliaceus is the most common autoimmune skin disease in horses and is associated with the production of autoantibodies directed against surface proteins of the keratinocyte. Pemphigus vulgaris is a rare autoimmune skin disease in horses. Systemic lupus erythematosus and cutaneous lupus erythematosus are recognized in horses and both are rare. Bullous pemphigoid is a rare autoimmune disease in horses caused by immunologic attack of the basement membrane zone by autoantibodies. Erythema muliforme is an immunologic reaction in the skin in which keratinocyte cell death is the prominent c...
Fernandez C, Möller G.After a primary immune response to the alpha 1-6 epitope of dextran B512, dextran high responder strains exhibit a specific inability to produce IgM and IgG antibodies against this epitope, although they gave an expected secondary response to horse erythrocytes. Spleen cells from dextran-primed and-suppressed mice responded well to dextran after transfer to lethally irradiated previously untreated mice, indicating that tolerance or exhaustive proliferation of dextran reactive B cells is not responsible. Thymus-dependent dextran-protein conjugates also induced specific suppression. Suppression ...
Mair TS, Taylor FG, Hillyer MH.Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia was diagnosed in eight horses on the basis of a positive Coomb's test. The disease was considered to be idiopathic in three cases and secondary to another condition in five. The clinical signs included dullness and depression, pyrexia, jaundice and haemoglobinuria. In addition to anaemia, haematological evaluation commonly revealed auto-agglutination of red cells and anisocytosis; reticulocytosis and an increased mean corpuscular volume were less commonly observed. Four horses were successfully treated with dexamethasone, but the other four were destroyed or died ...
Olivry T, Borrillo AK, Xu L, Dunston SM, Slovis NM, Affolter VK, Demanuelle TC, Chan LS.Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepithelial blistering dermatosis of humans, dogs, cats and pigs. It is characterized by skin-fixed and circulating IgG autoantibodies that target one or both BP antigens. An immunological homologue of BP in humans was diagnosed in two horses with cutaneous and mucosal ulcerations as well as microscopic subepithelial vesiculation. Immunological investigations revealed similar findings for both the horses. Direct immunofluorescence demonstrated the presence of IgG deposited linearly at the dermoepidermal junction in mucosal and skin biopsy specimens. I...
Hack Y, Henriksen ML, Pihl TH, Nielsen RK, Dwyer AE, Bellone RR.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is an autoimmune disease defined by inflammation of the uveal tract of the eye. The cause of ERU is thought to be complex, involving both genetic and environmental factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential genetic risk factors for ERU in the Icelandic horse. Fifty-six Icelandic horses (11 affected with ERU and 45 controls) living in Denmark and the USA, eight years or older, were included in the study. A case-control GWAS was performed using the GGP Equine 80K array on the Illumina Infinium HD Beadchip using 40 horses. A mixed linear model a...
Rosychuk RA.Noninflammatory, nonpruritic alopecias are uncommonly encountered in the horse. Alopecia areata, an apparently autoimmune hair follicle bulbitis produces focal, multifocal to widespread hair loss. The skin is otherwise normal. Diseases that can mimic the widespread hair loss associated with alopecia areata include telogen and anagen effluvium, seasonal alopecias, follicular dysplasias (including color dilution alopecia), various nutritional deficiencies and chemical toxicosis, and diseases that result in defective hair shafts (eg, trichorrhexis nodosa and piedra). These problems are differenti...
Uhl PB, Amann B, Hauck SM, Deeg CA.Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) builds the outer blood-retinal barrier of the eye. Since one typical feature of the autoimmune disease, equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), is the breakdown of this barrier, we recently performed comparative analysis of healthy and uveitic RPE. We identified for the first time peripherin 2, which is responsible for visual perception and retina development, to be localized in RPE. The purpose of this study was therefore to validate our findings by characterizing the expression patterns of peripherin 2 in RPE and retina. We also investigated whether peripherin 2 expr...
Papa FO, Alvarenga MA, Lopes MD, Campos Filho EP.THE immunogenicity of mammalian sperm has been recognised since the beginning of this century. In 1909, Adler induced autoantibodies in the serum of guinea pigs by injecting them with their own spermatozoa. Nowadays, the concept of
immunologically privileged sites is well understood and any disruption which allows antigenic contact with the immune system may give rise to an immune response. For example, failure
of the blood/testes barrier following infection, trauma or surgery can lead to the production of antisperm antibodies as a result of spermatozoa coming in contact with the immune syst...
Day MJ, Penhale WJ.Skin biopsies from 47 dogs, 6 cats and 5 horses with suspected autoimmune skin disease were submitted for immunofluorescence from 1978 to 1985. These cases were predominantly Western Australian in origin, although a number were also referred from Queensland and Victoria. In 5 dogs, 2 cats and 2 horses immunoglobulin binding to intercellular cement substance and/or basement membrane was demonstrated by direct immunofluorescence. Antinuclear antibody was also demonstrated in several of these cases. Immunofluorescence was used in combination with histopathological examination to confirm the clini...
Swadzba ME, Hauck SM, Naim HY, Amann B, Deeg CA.Complete knowledge of autoantigen spectra is crucial for understanding pathomechanisms of autoimmune diseases like equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), a spontaneous model for human autoimmune uveitis. While several ERU autoantigens were identified previously, no membrane protein was found so far. As there is a great overlap between glycoproteins and membrane proteins, the aim of this study was to test whether pre-enrichment of retinal glycoproteins by ConA affinity is an effective tool to detect autoantigen candidates among membrane proteins. In 1D Western blots, the glycoprotein preparation allow...
Perillo A, Passantino G, Passantino L, Cianciotta A, Mastrosimini AM, Lacovazzi P, Venezia P, Jirillo E, Troncone A.Among 622 slaughtered horses from eastern Europe, 156 thyroid glands were selected on the basis of macroscopic alterations (e.g., determination of volume and weight). In the 80% of these thyroids, microscopic alterations consistent with a diagnosis of Hashimoto thyroiditis-like disease were found. In particular, a subverted architecture of the thyroid gland with colloid rarefaction, lymphocytic infiltration, and fibrosis was noted. The confirmation of the histopathological diagnosis of an equine Hashimoto thyroiditis-like disease was provided by the increased serum concentration of thyroglobul...
Osborne AC, Carter SD, May SA, Bennett D.An investigation was made into the possible contribution of autoimmune mechanisms to equine arthropathies. Serum and synovial fluid (SF) immune complexes and anti-collagen Type II antibodies were measured, by ELISA, in groups of horses with naturally occurring osteoarthritis (OA), osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), bone fracture, traumatised joints, synovitis, infected joints and non-diseased (control) joints. Significantly raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies were found in osteoarthritic (P < 0.02) and traumatised joint synovial fluids (P < 0.01) compared with the control, where ten of...
Carter SD, Osborne AC, May SA, Bennett D.To consider the hypothesis that autoimmune mechanisms may contribute to the pathology of equine joint diseases, 3 autoimmune responses were assayed in sera and synovial fluids. IgM-rheumatoid factor and antibodies to heat shock protein 65 kDa were determined by ELISA; anti-nuclear antibodies were assayed by indirect immunofluorescence to whole cell nuclear components. All parameters showed only modest increases, if any and not in a pattern related to disease, although some statistically significant increases were detected. Group analysis showed significantly elevated synovial fluid IgM-rheumat...
Jongbloets AM, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Meeus PJ, Back W.Equine canker is a chronic, hyperplastic, exudative pododermatitis affecting one or more feet. Although many causes and treatments have been suggested, the cause of the disease is still unknown and most probably multifactorial. Local treatments include radical surgical debridement of the diseased hoof tissue and application of caustic substances, antibiotics, and pressure bandaging. Nevertheless, the number of recurrences is high (45%). This article presents a 3-year-old New Forest pony-cross mare in which all horny structures (frogs, coronets, spurs, chestnuts) of all feet were affected. Bact...
Georgadze IA, Nozadze ZM.The hyperimmunization of horses with large doses of tetanus toxoid is accompanied by an increase in the levels of both specific antitoxic antibodies and autoantibodies to the tissue antigens of the liver, the spleen, the heart. The reverse relationship between the level of autoantibodies and the titer of antitoxin has been established. The authors suggest that the synthesis of autoantibodies is stimulated by the presence of antigen-antibody immune complexes in the circulating blood, as well as by the action of exo- and endopolyclonal stimulators.
Selected equine cutaneous diseases for which there is strong evidence of an immunological aetiology are discussed in this section. The reactive disorders of urticaria, Culicoides hypersensitivity, erythema multiforme, drug eruptions and systemic granulomatous disease are included. The autoimmune diseases of the horse with cutaneous manifestations (pemphigus foliaceus, pemphigus vulgaris, bullous pemphigoid and cutaneous lupus erythematosus) are discussed. The clinical signs and diagnostic features of these immunologically induced equine dermatoses are defined, and the challenges in making a de...
Teuscher C, Kenney RM, Cummings MR, Catten M.In this study, 2 stallions were immunised with their own spermatozoa to ascertain whether an antisperm autoantibody response could be mounted. The results demonstrated that the stallion can recognise and respond to sperm autoantigens by producing circulating antisperm antibodies, primarily of the IgG class. Such autoantibodies appeared 2-4 weeks after inoculation and persisted for 6-20 weeks. Immunochemical characterisation by western blot identified two major sperm autoantigens, with molecular weights of 70 kD and 62 kD. Control pony stallions immunised with adjuvants alone failed to exhibit ...
Pomorski Z, Pinkiewicz E, Grzebuła S.In the studies attempts were to demonstrate the occurrence of immunological reactivity against antigens of the lens and tunica vascularis of the eye in periodical inflammation of eyes in horses. For this purpose antigens from the lens and tunica vascularis of the eye, prepared in our laboratory, were used in the experiments. The reactivity of horses with monthly symptoms of blindness against the above antigens was determined in vivo (skin tests and PCA) and in vitro (ID reaction). The results obtained mainly in skin tests account for its occurrence in some percentage of diseased animals, becau...
