The immune response in horses involves a complex network of cells, tissues, and molecules that work together to protect the animal from pathogens and other harmful agents. This process includes both innate and adaptive immune mechanisms. Innate immunity provides the first line of defense and involves components such as physical barriers, phagocytic cells, and the complement system. Adaptive immunity, on the other hand, is characterized by the activation of lymphocytes and the production of antibodies, which provide a targeted response to specific antigens. Key components of the equine immune system include T cells, B cells, and various cytokines that facilitate communication between immune cells. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the mechanisms, regulation, and implications of immune responses in equine health.
Rodríguez M, Joseph S, Pfeffer M, Raghavan R, Wernery U.African horse sickness (AHS) is a serious viral disease of equids resulting in the deaths of many equids in sub-Saharan Africa that has been recognized for centuries. This has significant economic impact on the horse industry, despite the good husbandry practices. Currently, prevention and control of the disease is based on administration of live attenuated vaccines and control of the arthropod vectors. Results: A total of 29 horses in 2 groups, were vaccinated. Eighteen horses in Group 1 were further divided into 9 subgroups of 2 horses each, were individually immunised with one of 1 to 9 AHS...
Battaglia F, Meucci V, Tognetti R, Bonelli F, Sgorbini M, Lubas G, Pretti C, Intorre L.In human medicine, procalcitonin (PCT), the precursor of calcitonin, is used for the rapid identification of the origin and severity of sepsis. In veterinary medicine, PCT has been studied in horses, cattle, and dogs, but the use of PCT in diagnostic and/or prognostic settings is not possible because of the lack of validated assays to obtain reference ranges. The aim of the present study was the investigation of commercially available ELISA kits for the detection of canine and equine PCT in plasma samples. Validation of the ELISA kits was performed by using species-specific recombinant protein...
Kinsley R, Pronost S, De Bock M, Temperton N, Daly JM, Paillot R, Scott S.Equine influenza is a major respiratory disease of horses that is largely controlled by vaccination in some equine populations. Virus-neutralising antibodies, the mainstay of the protective immune response, are problematic in assaying for equine influenza virus, as most strains do not replicate efficiently in cell culture. Surrogate measures of protective antibody responses include the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and single radial haemolysis (SRH) assay. For this study, a pseudotyped virus, bearing an envelope containing the haemagglutinin (HA) from the Florida clade 2 equine influe...
H A Morris L, M McCue P, Aurich C.Endometritis in the mare begins as a normal physiological inflammatory response to breeding that involves both a mechanical and immunological response pathway activated to rid the uterus of semen and bacteria. With successful resolution of this inflammation, the mare's uterus will provide a hospitable environment for the development of the semi-allogenic conceptus. If the mare fails to resolve this inflammatory response within 48 h of breeding, she will become susceptible to persistent breeding-induced endometritis (PBIE) which will have detrimental effects on her fertility. This condition can...
Yoshimura S, Koziy RV, Dickinson R, Moshynskyy I, McKenzie JA, Simko E, Bracamonte JL.While serum amyloid A (SAA) has been investigated as a potential marker for septic arthritis in horses, no study has reported on whether SAA can be used to detect eradication of joint infection. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate whether the eradication of joint infection in experimentally induced septic arthritis in horses can be detected using serum and synovial fluid SAA. A total of 17 horses were randomly assigned to 3 groups. A middle carpal joint of each horse was injected with saline (control group, = 3), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (nonseptic synovitis group, = 6)...
Tanaka Y, Adilbish A, Koyama K, Bayasgalan MO, Horiuchi N, Uranbileg N, Watanabe K, Purevdorj B, Gurdorj S, Banzragch B, Badgar B, Suganuma K....Dourine is a deadly protozoan disease in equids caused by infection with Trypanosoma equiperdum. Neurological signs in the later stage of infection may be caused by peripheral polyneuritis and related axonal degeneration. This neuritis involves T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, and macrophages, and is observed in cases without obvious neurological signs. However, the pathogenesis of neuritis remains unclear. We identified M2 macrophages and CD8 T cells as the predominant phenotypes in neuritis of dourine-affected horses with or without neurological signs. In contrast, the populations of M1 macroph...
Raza F, Ivanek R, Freer H, Reiche D, Rose H, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V, Björnsdóttir S, Wagner B.Culicoides hypersensitivity (CH) is induced in horses by salivary allergens of Culicoides midges. In Iceland, the causal Culicoides species for CH are not present. Previous epidemiological data indicated that Icelandic horses are more susceptible to CH when they are exported from Iceland and first exposed to Culicoides at adult age. Horses born in countries where Culicoides is endemic, develop the disease less frequently. Here, we established a longitudinal allergy model to identify predictive and diagnostic serological biomarkers of CH. Results: Sixteen adult Icelandic horses from Iceland wer...
Ohta M, Bannai H, Nemoto M, Kambayashi Y, Tamura N, Tsujimura K.An inactivated equine influenza virus (EIV) vaccine and a live equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine are usually administered concurrently to Thoroughbred racehorses in Japan. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether concurrent administration of an inactivated EIV vaccine and a live EHV-1 vaccine in Thoroughbred racehorses influences the antibody response against EIV. We compared the antibody response against EIV in horses administered both vaccines on the same day (Group A; n = 27) and the response in horses administered an inactivated EIV vaccine first and then a live EHV-1 v...
El-Deeb W, Fayez M, Elsohaby I, Mkrtchyan HV, Alhaider A.Clostridium difficile (CD) is considered a major health care problem both in developing and developed countries; frequently reported to be associated with enterocolitis and diarrhea in horses and other animals. In this study, we examined acute phase response (APR), cytokines response, neopterin (NP) procalcitonin (PCT) production and oxidative stress condition in horses and foals with C. difficile-induced enterocolitis (CDIE) and evaluated the effectiveness of these parameters as biomarkers for the disease. A total of 407 Arabian horses in 35 stables were examined between January 2017 to Decem...
Miller AB, Loynachan AT, Bush HM, Hart KA, Barker VD, Campana-Emard AG, Grubbs ST, Adams AA.It remains unclear how pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) and pergolide treatment (Prascend [pergolide tablets]) affect endocrine and immune function in horses. To evaluate these effects, blood was collected regularly from 28 university-owned horses (10 Non-PPID, 9 PPID control [PC], and 9 PPID treatment [PT]) over approximately 15 mo. Pergolide treatment was initiated after Day 0 collections. Analyses included ACTH, insulin, total cortisol, free cortisol, complete blood counts, plasma myeloperoxidase, and cytokine/receptor gene expression in basal whole blood and in vitro stimulat...
Lopez BS, Hurley DJ, Giancola S, Giguère S, Hart KA.Immunological and endocrine immaturity in foals increases foal morbidity and mortality from bacterial sepsis. Dendritic cells (DC) are critical in activating the adaptive immune response, but foal DC are phenotypically and functionally different than those of adult horses. Age-related variations in availability of some soluble plasma factors, such as hormones, might govern some age-related differences in DC function. Effects of exposure to plasma factors on equine DC phenotype and function have not been described. We hypothesized that exposure to plasma from foals or adult horses would differe...
Tallmadge RL, Antczak DF, Felippe MJB.Host defenses against infection by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites are critical to survival. It has been estimated that upwards of 7% of the coding genes of mammals function in immunity and inflammation. This high level of genomic investment in defense has resulted in an immune system characterized by extraordinary complexity and many levels of redundancy. Because so many genes are involved with immunity, there are many opportunities for mutations to arise that have negative effects. However, redundancy in the mammalian defense system and the adaptive nature of key immune mechanisms bu...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Mazuz ML, Savitsky I, Steinman A.The tick-borne equine hemoparasite, Theileria equi, is endemic in many parts of the world where prevalence may be high, and most infected horses are apparently healthy but serve as life-long carriers. To determine the factors that affect T. equi dynamics, we followed parasitic loads in apparently healthy horses at four time points during one year. A total of 1094 blood samples were collected from 395 horses, along with ticks and demographic and clinical data. Infection and load of T. equi were tested by PCR and qPCR, and for the spring dataset, infection was also tested serologically by IFAT (...
Entenfellner J, Gahan J, Garvey M, Walsh C, Venner M, Cullinane A.The international governing body of equestrian sports requires that horses be vaccinated against equine influenza within 6 months and 21 days of competing. The aim of this study was to compare the antibody response of young sport horses to six-monthly booster vaccination with equine influenza vaccines of different formulations. An inactivated vaccine was allocated to 35 horses and subunit and recombinant vaccines were allocated to 34 horses each. After vaccination, all horses were monitored for evidence of adverse reactions. Whole blood samples were collected at the time of vaccination and on ...
Dominguez-Medina CC, Rash NL, Robillard S, Robinson C, Efstratiou A, Broughton K, Parkhill J, Holden MTG, Lopez-Alvarez MR, Paillot R, Waller AS.Bacterial superantigens (sAgs) are powerful activators of the immune response that trigger unspecific T cell responses accompanied by the release of proinflammatory cytokines. () and () produce sAgs that play an important role in their ability to cause disease. Strangles, caused by , is one of the most common infectious diseases of horses worldwide. Here, we report the identification of a new sAg of , SpeS, and show that mutation of the putative T cell receptor (TCR)-binding motif (YAY to IAY) abrogated TCR-binding, whilst maintaining interaction with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) c...
Fehér O, Bakonyi T, Barna M, Nagy A, Takács M, Szenci O, Joó K, Sárdi S, Korbacska-Kutasi O.In the last decade in Hungary and the neighbouring countries, West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease (WNND) has been caused in dramatically increasing numbers by lineage 2 West Nile Virus (WNV) strains both in horses and in humans. The disease in this geographical region is seasonal, so vaccination of horses should be carefully scheduled to maintain the highest antibody titres during outbreak periods. The objective of this study was to characterise the serum neutralising (SN) antibody titres against a lineage 2 WNV strain in response to vaccination with an inactivated lineage 1 vaccine (Equip® WNV)....
Navarrete F, Saravia F, Cisterna G, Rojas F, Silva PP, Rodríguez-Alvarez L, Rojas D, Cabezas J, Mançanares ACF, Castro FO.Horse mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are potential anti-inflammatory tools for post-breeding induced endometritis (PBIE). In this research MSCs isolated from the endometrium or subcutaneous fat of the same donors were infused iu into mares with PBIE for assessment of their anti-inflammatory action and engraftment. PBIE was induced in nine gynecologically healthy mares by iu infusion of 500 million dead sperm in saline. Inflammatory markers were analyzed in uterine lavages and biopsies immediately before (phase I) and 3 h after infusion of sperm (phase II). Measurements: polymorph nuclear cells ...
Lin Y, Wang XF, Wang Y, Du C, Ren H, Liu C, Zhu D, Chen J, Na L, Liu D, Yang Z, Wang X.Lentiviruses harbour high genetic variability for efficient evasion from host immunity. An attenuated equine infectious anaemia (EIA) vaccine was developed decades ago in China and presented remarkably robust protection against EIA. The vaccine was recently proven to have high genomic diversity, particular in . However, how and to what extent the high diversity relates to immune protection remains unclear. In this study, we compared immune protections and responses of three groups of horses stimulated by the high-diversity vaccine EIAV_HD, a single molecular clone of the vaccine EIAV_LD with ...
Duran MC, Dumrath CAC, Bartmann CP, Medina Torres CE, Moschos A, Goehring LS.Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a sensitive acute-phase response (APR) marker in equids. Prominent APRs with elevations of SAA concentrations ([SAA]) have been reported after vaccination. The authors hypothesized that vaccination with an inactivated EHV-1/-4 vaccine would cause increase in [SAA] and antibody responses and that higher [SAA] would be positively correlated with the antibody titer in both equids. Twelve Haflinger horses and 12 mules were included in this longitudinal prospective study. All horses and mules were vaccinated with a commercially available EHV-1/-4 vaccine. Blood was sampled ...
Robinson C, Waller AS, Frykberg L, Flock M, Zachrisson O, Guss B, Flock JI.The equine disease strangles, caused by Streptococcus equi, remains a major cause of welfare and economic cost to the global horse industry. Here we report the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of a novel multi-component chimeric fusion protein vaccine, called Strangvac, when administered to ponies via the intramuscular route. Across the four studies, Strangvac was safe and induced robust antibody responses towards the vaccine components in blood serum and the nasopharynx, which were boosted by revaccination up to 12 months after a primary course of 2 vaccinations 4 weeks apart. The vaccin...
EHV1 and EHV4 are the most important herpesviruses in horses. Repeated cases of abortion in mares regularly vaccinated, prompted us to investigate the immune response after vaccination with the same inactivated vaccine, but with three different protocols. Eighteen mares were chosen and randomly divided in three study groups (G-G-G) and a control group (Ctrl). For serologic and PCR investigations nasal swabs, sera and blood were collected. The protocol used in G (4 doses) increased the titer recorded by ELISA and seroneutralization (SN). Poor agreement and no correlation were observed in titer ...
Miró J, Marín H, Catalán J, Papas M, Gacem S, Yeste M.In the donkey, artificial insemination (AI) with frozen-thawed semen is associated with low fertility rates, which could be partially augmented through adding seminal plasma (SP) and increasing sperm concentration. On the other hand, post-AI endometrial inflammation in the jenny is significantly higher than in the mare. While previous studies analyzed this response through recovering Polymorphonuclear Neutrophils (PMN) from uterine washings, successive lavages can detrimentally impact the endometrium, leading to fertility issues. For this reason, the first set of experiments in this work inten...
Page AE, Adam E, Stewart JC, Gonzales C, Barker V, Horohov DW.While the use of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation has been well described in the horse, the object of this study was to evaluate the effect of repeated intra-articular LPS injections and determine whether this method may be of use to assess changes in gene expression related to inflammation. Six mixed breed horses were utilized for this study, with three horses aged 10-17 years (older group) and three horses aged 3 years (younger group). One milliliter of phosphate-buffered saline containing 3 μg of LPS from Escherichia coli O111:B4 was aseptically injected into either the radi...
Fagan MM, Harris P, Adams A, Pazdro R, Krotky A, Call J, Duberstein KJ.Vitamin E is an essential antioxidant that may benefit athletes by reducing oxidative stress and influencing cytokine expression. Supplements can be derived from natural or manufactured synthetic sources. This study aimed to determine (1) if supplemental vitamin E is beneficial to exercising horses and (2) if there is a benefit of natural versus synthetic vitamin E. After 2 weeks on the control diet (vitamin E-deficient grain and hay), 18 horses were divided into three groups and fed the control diet plus (1) 1000 IU/d synthetic α-tocopherol (SYN-L), (2) 4000 IU/d synthetic α-tocopherol (SYN...
Blaue D, Schedlbauer C, Starzonek J, Gittel C, Brehm W, Blüher M, Pfeffer M, Vervuert I.Human obesity is linked with systemic inflammation. However, it is still controversial if equines produce more inflammatory cytokines with increasing body weight and if the production of those show breed type specific patterns. The main objective of this study was to determine if diet induced obesity is associated with increased inflammatory signatures in adipose tissue of equines and if a breed predisposition exists between ponies and horses. Additionally, we aimed to identify adipose tissue depot differences in inflammatory cytokine expression. Nineteen healthy, non-overweight and metabolica...
Fedorka CE, Murase H, Loux SC, Loynachan AT, Walker OF, Squires EL, Ball BA, Troedsson MHT.Maintaining yearly foal production is important for the economic success of the broodmare, and this requires breeding to occur as quickly postpartum as possible. The initial postpartum estrus occurs within 5-20 days postpartum, whereas the uterus is still undergoing repair from tissue alterations during pregnancy and parturition, a process known as involution. Attempts have been made to hasten this process, but with minimal success. Mycobacterium cell wall fraction (MCWF) is an immunomodulator that has been shown to reduce bacterial growth and alter aspects of the immune response to breeding,...
Ahn H, Kim J, Lee H, Lee E, Lee GS.Inflammasome, a cytosolic multi-protein complex, assembly is a response to sensing intracellular pathogenic and endogenic danger signals followed by caspase-1 activation, which maturates precursor cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β. Most inflammasome research has been undertaken in humans and rodents, and inflammasomes in veterinary species have not been well-characterized. In this study, we observed the effects of well-known inflammasome activators on equine peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs). The NLRP3 inflammasome triggers include ATP, nigericin, aluminum crystals, and monosodium urate ...
Köhne M, Mönnig F, Papin J, Schöniger S, Tönissen A, Rohn K, Martinsson G, Schoon HA, Sieme H.The effects of standard uterine body and hysteroscopic insemination on endometrial health were investigated. For this purpose, 33 mares were assigned to five different protocols: control (no insemination; n = 7), sham AI (sham uterine body insemination; n = 6), sham HysAI (sham hysteroscopic insemination; n = 7), standard AI (standard uterine body insemination, 300 × 106 progressively motile sperms (PMS); n = 7) and HysAI (hysteroscopic insemination, 100 × 106 PMS; n = 6). Sampling included uterine swabbing for microbiological examination, cytology for determination of polymorphonucle...
Lichtenstein F, Iqbal A, de Lima Will SEA, Bosch RV, DeOcesano-Pereira C, Goldfeder MB, Chammas R, Trufen CEM, Morais KLP, de Souza JG, Natalino RJM....We have investigated Amblyomin-X-treated horse melanomas to better understand its mode of action through transcriptome analysis and the in vivo model. Amblyomin-X is a Kunitz-type homologous protein that selectively leads to the death of tumor cells via ER stress and apoptosis, currently under investigation as a new drug candidate for cancer treatment. Melanomas are immunogenic tumors, and a better understanding of the immune responses is warranted. Equine melanomas are spontaneous and not so aggressive as human melanomas are, as this study shows that the in vivo treatment of encapsulated hors...
Laroucau K, Saqib M, Martin B, Deshayes T, Bertin C, Wernery U, Joseph S, Singha H, Tripathi BN, Beck C.Burkholderia mallei is the etiologic agent of glanders, an infectious disease of solipeds, with renewed scientific interest due to its increasing incidence in different parts of the world. More rapid, sensitive and specific assays are required by laboratories for confirmatory testing of this disease. A microsphere-based immunoassay consisting of beads coated with B. mallei recombinant proteins (BimA, GroEL, Hcp1, and TssB) has been developed for the serological diagnosis of glanders. The proteins' performance was compared with the OIE reference complement fixation test (CFT) and an indirect en...
Camarda G, Spinetti G, Bernardini G, Mair C, Davis-Poynter N, Capogrossi MC, Napolitano M.Several herpesviruses contain open reading frames (ORFs) that encode potential homologs of eucaryotic genes. Equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2) is a gammaherpesvirus related to other lymphotropic herpesviruses such as herpesvirus saimiri and Epstein-Barr virus. The E1 ORF of EHV-2, a G protein-coupled receptor homolog, shows 31 to 47% amino acid identity with known CC chemokine receptors. To investigate whether E1 may encode a functional receptor, we cloned the E1 ORF and expressed it in stably transfected cell lines. We report here the identification of the CC chemokine eotaxin as a functional liga...
Baghi HB, Nauwynck HJ.The mucosal surfaces are important sites of entry for a majority of pathogens, and viruses in particular. The migration of antigen presenting cells (APCs) from the apical side of the mucosal epithelium to the lymph node is a key event in the development of mucosal immunity during viral infections. However, the mechanism by which viruses utilize the transmigration of these cells to invade the mucosa is largely unexplored. Here, we establish an ex vivo explant model of monocytic cell transmigration across the nasal mucosal epithelium and lamina propria. Equine nasal mucosal CD172a(+) cells (nmCD...
Dutta SK, Vemulapalli R, Biswas B.Ehrlichia risticii is the causative agent of Potomac horse fever (PHF), which continues to be an important disease of horses. Commercial inactivated whole-cell vaccines are regularly used for immunization of horses against the disease. However, PHF is occurring in large numbers of horses in spite of vaccination. In a limited study, 43 confirmed cases of PHF occurred between the 1994 and 1996 seasons; of these, 38 (89%) were in horses that had been vaccinated for the respective season, thereby clearly indicating vaccine failure. A field study of horses vaccinated with two PHF vaccines indicated...
Tadros EM, Frank N, Donnell RL.To test the hypothesis that inflammatory responses to endotoxemia differ between healthy horses and horses with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). Animals-6 healthy horses and 6 horses with EMS. Methods: Each horse randomly received an IV infusion of lipopolysaccharide (20 ng/kg [in 60 mL of sterile saline {0.9% NaCl} solution]) or saline solution, followed by the other treatment after a 7-day washout period. Baseline data were obtained 30 minutes before each infusion. After infusion, a physical examination was performed hourly for 9 hours and at 15 and 21 hours; a whole blood sample was collect...
Lange-Consiglio A, Stucchi L, Zucca E, Lavoie JP, Cremonesi F, Ferrucci F.Human asthma is a widespread disease associated with chronic inflammation of the airways, leading to loss of quality of life, disability and death. Corticosteroid administration is the mainstream treatment for asthmatic patients. Corticosteroids reduce airway obstruction and improve quality of life, although symptoms persist despite treatment in many patients. Moreover, available therapies failed to reverse the lung pathology present in asthma. Animal models, mostly rats and mice, in which the disease is experimentally induced, have been studied to identify new therapeutic targets for human as...
Troedsson MH, Liu IK.The purpose of this study was to investigate the physical ability of the mare's uterus to eliminate non-antigenic 51Cr microspheres during an infectious challenge. Mares both potentially susceptible and resistant to chronic uterine infections were used in this study. The procedure described serves as a model of the uterine capacity to clear physically infectious agents and inflammatory products during the acute phase of an infection. Based on the results from intra-uterine bacterial challenges, reproductive history, examination per rectum and endometrial biopsies, mares were classified as pote...
Jose-Cunilleras E, Kohn CW, Hillier A, Saville WJ, Lorch G.To compare responses to a variety of intradermally injected allergens among healthy horses and horses with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), recurrent urticaria (RU), and atopic dermatitis-insect hypersensitivity (allergic dermatitis [AD]). Methods: Case-control study. Methods: 86 horses. Methods: Results of intradermal testing for horses with COPD, RU, or AD were compared with results for healthy horses. Results: Compared with healthy horses, horses with COPD, RU, and AD were significantly more likely to have positive (> or = 3+) reactions to intradermal allergens (molds, weeds, t...
Pringle J, Storm E, Waller A, Riihimäki M.Antibiotic treatment of horses with strangles is reported to impair the development of immunity to subsequent exposure to Streptococcus equi ssp equi (S. equi). However, apart from a single clinical report, evidence-based studies for this hypothesis are lacking. Objective: To determine whether penicillin treatment during clinical strangles influences the development or persistence of seropositivity to S. equi-specific antibodies. Methods: A natural outbreak of strangles with 100% morbidity in 41 unvaccinated mature Icelandic horses. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study of acute clinical s...
Lewis SS, Valberg SJ, Nielsen IL.Although immune-mediated myositis (IMM) is commonly reported in other species, this condition is poorly described in horses. Objective: IMM occurs in horses. Methods: Thirty-seven horses with suspected IMM were included in the study. Methods: The database of the Neuromuscular Diagnostic Laboratory was reviewed to identify 37 horses with muscle biopsies characterized by lymphocytic infiltrates. A retrospective standardized questionnaire regarding clinical signs and response to treatment was answered by horse owners. Results: Horses with suspected IMM were predominantly of Quarter Horse bloodlin...
Chaintoutis SC, Diakakis N, Papanastassopoulou M, Banos G, Dovas CI.Although experimental data regarding cross-protection of horse West Nile virus (WNV) vaccines against lineage 2 infections exist, the cross-protective efficacy of these vaccines under field conditions has not been demonstrated. This study was conducted to evaluate the capability of an inactivated lineage 1 vaccine (Equip WNV) to protect against natural infections from the Nea Santa-Greece-2010 lineage 2 strain. In total, 185 WNV-seronegative horses in Thessaloniki, Greece, were selected during 2 consecutive years (2011 and 2012); 140 were immunized, and 45 were used as controls. Horses were ex...
Wagner B, Flaminio JB, Hillegas J, Leibold W, Erb HN, Antczak DF.IgE is the key antibody involved in type I allergies. Allergen mediated crosslinking of IgE bound to high affinity Fcepsilon-receptors on mast cells and basophils stimulates cellular degranulation and release of inflammatory mediators and cytokines. In this report, we demonstrate that IgE antibodies can be transferred from the mother to offspring in horses via the colostrum. We found a clear correlation between the IgE concentration in colostrum and the total IgE concentration in foal sera on day 2 after birth (r(sp)=0.83). Maternal IgE was detected in foal sera by ELISA and on peripheral bloo...
Sarkar S, Balasuriya UB, Horohov DW, Chambers TM.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is one of the most common and important respiratory viral pathogens of horses. EHV-1 in horses replicates initially in the respiratory epithelium and then spreads systematically to endothelial cells lining the small blood vessels in the uterus and spinal cord, and highly pathogenic virus strains can produce aborted fetuses or myeloencephalopathy. Like other herpes viruses, EHV-1 employs a variety of mechanisms for immune evasion. Some herpes viruses down-regulate the type-I interferon (IFN) response to infection, but such activity has not been described for EHV-1. ...
McCollum WH.Nineteen horses with no prior experience with equine arteritis virus (EAV) were inoculated IM with an avirulent live-virus vaccine against equine viral arteritis; the vaccinal virus had been passaged serially 131 times in primary cell cultures of equine kidney, 111 times in primary cell cultures of rabbit kidney, and 16 times in an equine dermis cell line (EAV HK-131/RK-111/ED-16). Three or 4 of the vaccinated horses each, along with appropriate nonvaccinated controls, were inoculated nasally with virulent EAV at each of months 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 after they were vaccinated. The following ...
Fitzpatrick DR, Studdert MJ.The specificity of selected immune responses to equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4) was examined in 3 colostrum-deprived specific-pathogen-free foals. Single foals were vaccinated with inactivated EHV-1, inactivated EHV-4, or control cell lysate plus adjuvant followed by successive intranasal challenge exposures with EHV-1 and EHV-4 or with EHV-4 and EHV-1. Vaccination with inactivated virus preparations elicited cellular immune responses and antibody which were augmented by subsequent challenge exposures. Cellular immune responses, as measured by in vitro lymphocyte blastogen...
Tagmyer TL, Craigo JK, Cook SJ, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infection of horses provides a valuable model for examining the natural immunological control of lentivirus infection and disease and the mechanisms of protective and enhancing vaccine immunity. We have previously hypothesized that the EIAV envelope (Env) proteins gp90 and gp45 are major determinants of vaccine efficacy, and that the development of protective immunity by attenuated viral vaccines may be associated with the progressive redirection of immune responses from immunodominant, variable Env segments to immunorecessive, conserved Env sequences. Whi...
Broeckx SY, Borena BM, Van Hecke L, Chiers K, Maes S, Guest DJ, Meyer E, Duchateau L, Martens A, Spaas JH.Several studies report beneficial effects of autologous and allogeneic stem cells on wound healing. However, no comparison between autologous versus allogeneic epithelial-like stem cells (EpSCs) has been made so far. For this reason, we first hypothesize that both EpSC types enhance wound healing in comparison to vehicle treatment and untreated controls. Second, on the basis of other studies, we hypothesized that there would be no difference between autologous and allogeneic EpSCs. Methods: Twelve full-thickness skin wounds were created in six horses. Each horse was subjected to (i) autologous...
Rosas CT, Tischer BK, Perkins GA, Wagner B, Goodman LB, Osterrieder N.The immunogenicity in horses of a recombinant equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine expressing West Nile virus (WNV) prM and E proteins was studied. To construct the recombinant EHV-1, two-step en passant mutagenesis was employed for manipulation of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) of vaccine strain RacH. Recombinant EHV-1 stably expressed the WNV prM and E proteins as demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence and Western blotting. In addition, growth properties in vitro of the EHV-1/WNV recombinant were found to not be significantly different from those of the parental virus. To ...
Carossino M, Dini P, Kalbfleisch TS, Loynachan AT, Canisso IF, Shuck KM, Timoney PJ, Cook RF, Balasuriya UBR.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) can establish long-term persistent infection in the reproductive tract of stallions and is shed in the semen. Previous studies showed that long-term persistence is associated with a specific allele of the CXCL16 gene (CXCL16S) and that persistent infection is maintained despite the presence of a local inflammatory and humoral and mucosal antibody responses. In this study, we demonstrated that equine seminal exosomes (SEs) are enriched in a small subset of microRNAs (miRNAs). Most importantly, we demonstrated that long-term EAV persistence is associated with the dow...
McCraw BM, Slocombe JO.Pony foals inoculated with infective Strongylus edentatus larvae were monitored for clinical signs and selected blood changes and were examined at necropsy from two to 56 days postinfection. Larvae penetrated the intestine and reached the liver intravenously before 40 hours postinfection. Occasional thrombi and larval tracks associated with the intima of cecal and colic veins suggested aberrant paths. Larvae in the liver doubled in width between seven and 15 days postinfection and a sudden increment in circulating eosinophils occurred between 11 and 15 days. These changes were probably associa...
Glass K, Wood JL, Mumford JA, Jesset D, Grenfell BT.This paper demonstrates that a simple stochastic model can capture the features of an epidemic of equine influenza in unvaccinated horses. When the model is modified to consider vaccinated horses, we find that vaccination dramatically reduces the incidence and size of epidemics. Although occasional larger outbreaks can still occur, these are exceptional. We then look at the effects of vaccination on a yard of horses, and in particular at the relationship between pre-challenge antibody level and quantity of virus shed when challenged with the virus. While on average, a high antibody level impli...
Antczak DF, Miller JM, Remick LH.Evidence is presented for a reproducible maternal immune response to histocompatibility antigens during equine pregnancy. Mares were stimulated as a result of pregnancy to produce cytotoxic antibodies to paternal lymphocyte alloantigens. The majority of these antibodies were directed against antigens of the equine lymphocyte antigen (ELA) system, which is the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the horse. In 16 experimental pregnancies produced using 12 mares and 4 stallions which had been typed for ELA antigens, there was correlation between ELA incompatibility between sire and dam and ...
Noronha LE, Harman RM, Wagner B, Antczak DF.The low-affinity Fc receptor CD16 plays a central role in the inflammatory and innate immune responses of many species, but has not yet been investigated in the horse. Using the predicted extracellular region of equine CD16 expressed as a recombinant fusion protein with equine IL-4 (rIL-4/CD16), we generated a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that recognize equine CD16. Nine mAbs were chosen for characterization based upon recognition of CD16, but not IL-4, in ELISA. All nine mAbs recognized full-length, cell-surface CD16 expressed as a GFP fusion protein by CHO cells, but not the c...
MacKay RJ, Merritt AM, Zertuche JM, Whittington M, Skelley LA.Serum and plasma from horses injected with endotoxin was examined for cytotoxic activity. Each of the cell lines, L929 and WEHI 164 clone 13, was sensitive to the cytotoxic effects of equine serum; however, a precipitation artifact caused by the use of isopropanol in the WEHI assay limited the use of this assay to samples containing less than 2 mg of protein/ml. In foals treated with a sublethal IV bolus of 5 micrograms of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/kg and in adult horses given a low-dose continuous infusion of LPS (30 ng/kg/h for 4 hours), cytotoxic activity was detected in all serum or plasma ...
Art T, Kirschvink N, Smith N, Lekeux P.To test the hypothesis that reactive oxygen species could be associated to the lower airway disorders occurring in horses suffering from recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), indices of oxidative stress were studied in blood and pulmonary epithelium lining fluid in 5 RAO horses either in clinical remission or 24 h after the onset of a crisis of bronchospasm and in 5 healthy horses. Venous blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples were collected and analysed for reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidised glutathione (GSSG), total glutathione (TGSH), glutathione redox ratio (GRR) in blood hae...
Vinther AM, Heegaard PM, Skovgaard K, Buhl R, Andreassen SM, Andersen PH.Local inflammation may progress into systemic inflammation. To increase our understanding of the basic immunological processes during transition of equine local inflammation into a systemic state, investigation into the equine systemic immune response to local inflammation is warranted. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the innate peripheral blood leukocyte (PBL) immune response to local inflammation in horses, and to compare this response with the PBL immune response during the early phase of acute systemic inflammation. Expression of 22 selected inflammation-related genes w...
Fessler JF, Bottoms GD, Coppoc GL, Gimarc S, Latshaw HS, Noble JK.Endotoxin (LPS) was quantitated in experimental subjects and in horses with naturally occurring gastrointestinal strangulation obstruction and/or septicaemic diseases to establish the fate of LPS and the clinical usefulness of the Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. The assay was validated for sensitivity (10 pg/ml), recovery (90 to 106 per cent), intra-assay precision (CV = 5.5 per cent) inter-assay precision (CV = 11 per cent), and stability of diluted, heat treated, frozen samples (at least 90 days). Plasma concentrations of LPS after sublethal (3 micrograms/kg) jugular or portal vein bo...
Barber TL, Walton TE, Lewis KJ.Twenty-nine horses were vaccinated with a trivalent (Venezuelan, eastern, and western) inactivated equine encephalomyelitis virus vaccine. The vaccine purchased for this study was the only one licensed and commercially available in May, 1975. Plaque-neutralizing and hemagglutinin-inhibiting antibodies in response to each of the 3 equine encephalomyelitis viruses were determined after vaccination. Horses had rising levels of plaque-neutralizing and hemagglutinin-inhibiting antibodies shortly after injection with the 1st and 2nd doses of the vaccine (given 3 weeks apart) and were refractory to c...
de Mestre AM, Bacon SJ, Costa CC, Leadbeater JC, Noronha LE, Stewart F, Antczak DF.The chorionic girdle of the equine conceptus is comprised of specialized trophoblast cells which, at day 36-38 of equine pregnancy, gain an invasive phenotype and invade the endometrium to form endometrial cups. Studies of equine endometrial cups remain difficult to perform because of the invasive techniques required to obtain cup tissue and because sampling requires termination of the pregnancy. In this study we developed a system to model trophoblast differentiation and trophoblast-immune interactions in vitro and in vivo. We utilized a method of culturing chorionic girdle pieces in serum-fr...
Bordin AI, Cohen ND, Giguère S, Bray JM, Berghaus LJ, Scott B, Johnson R, Hook M.Pneumonia caused by the intracellular bacterium Rhodococcus equi is an important cause of disease and death in immunocompromised hosts, especially foals. Antibiotics are the standard of care for treating R. equi pneumonia in foals, and adjunctive therapies are needed. We tested whether nebulization with TLR agonists (PUL-042) in foals would improve innate immunity and reduce the severity and duration of pneumonia following R. equi infection. Neonatal foals (n = 48) were nebulized with either PUL-042 or vehicle, and their lung cells infected ex vivo. PUL-042 increased inflammatory cytokines...
Hainisch EK, Abel-Reichwald H, Shafti-Keramat S, Pratscher B, Corteggio A, Borzacchiello G, Wetzig M, Jindra C, Tichy A, Kirnbauer R, Brandt S.We have previously shown that immunization of horses with bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV1) L1 virus-like particles (VLPs) is safe and highly immunogenic and that BPV1 and bovine papillomavirus type 2 (BPV2) are closely related serotypes. Here we evaluated the protective potential of a BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine against experimental BPV1 and BPV2 challenge and studied the safety and immunogenicity of a bivalent equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2)/BPV1 L1 VLP vaccine. Fourteen healthy horses were immunized with BPV1 L1 VLPs (100 µg per injection) plus adjuvant on days 0 and 28, while seven remai...
