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.
MarÃn-López A, Barreiro-Piñeiro N, Utrilla-Trigo S, Barriales D, Benavente J, Nogales A, MartÃnez-Costas J, Ortego J, Calvo-Pinilla E.African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is an insect-borne pathogen that causes acute disease in horses and other equids. In an effort to improve the safety of currently available vaccines and to acquire new knowledge about the determinants of AHSV immunogenicity, new generation vaccines are being developed. In this work we have generated and tested a novel immunization approach comprised of nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV-4) incorporated into avian reovirus muNS protein microspheres (MS-NS1) and/or expressed using recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector (MVA-NS1)....
Fougerolle S, Fortier C, Legrand L, Jourdan M, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Pronost S, Paillot R.Every year, several epizooties of equine influenza (EI) are reported worldwide. However, no EI case has been identified in France between 2015 and late 2018, despite an effective field surveillance of the pathogen and the disease. Vaccination against equine influenza virus (EIV) remains to this day one of the most effective methods to prevent or limit EI outbreaks and the lack of detection of the pathogen could be linked to vaccination coverage. The aim of this study was to evaluate EI immunity and vaccine coverage in France through a large-scale serological study. A total of 3004 archived sur...
Schnabel CL, Babasyan S, Rollins A, Freer H, Wimer CL, Perkins GA, Raza F, Osterrieder N, Wagner B.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) outbreaks continue to occur despite widely used vaccination. Therefore, development of EHV-1 vaccines providing improved immunity and protection is ongoing. Here, an open reading frame 2 deletion mutant of the neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain Ab4 (Ab4ΔORF2) was tested as a vaccine candidate. Three groups of horses ( = 8 each) were infected intranasally with Ab4ΔORF2 or the parent Ab4 virus or were kept as noninfected controls. Horses infected with Ab4ΔORF2 had reduced fever and nasal virus shedding compared to those infected with Ab4 but mounted similar ada...
White SJ, Moore-Colyer M, Marti E, Hannant D, Gerber V, Coüetil L, Richard EA, Alcocer M.Severe equine asthma (sEA), which closely resembles human asthma, is a debilitating and performance-limiting allergic respiratory disorder which affects 14% of horses in the Northern Hemisphere and is associated with increased allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) against a range of environmental proteins. A comprehensive microarray platform was developed to enable the simultaneous detection of allergen-specific equine IgE in serum against a wide range of putative allergenic proteins. The microarray revealed a plethora of novel pollen, bacteria, mould and arthropod proteins significant in t...
Kydd JH, Hannant D, Robinson RS, Bryant N, Osterrieder N.Equid herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) causes respiratory and neurological disease and late gestation abortion in pregnant mares. Current vaccines contain either inactivated or live EHV-1, but fail to provide complete clinical or virological protection, namely prevention of nasopharyngeal shedding and cell-associated viraemia. Thus, the development of novel products, such as modified live virus (MLV) vaccines which stimulate virus-specific, humoral and cell mediated immune responses more effectively remains a priority. Two groups of weaned foals (n = 6 each group) were used in a longitudinal, prospec...
Chen JW, Stefanovski D, Haughan J, Jiang Z, Boston R, Soma LR, Robinson MA.Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) can potentially mask painful injuries in equine athletes. Tests to detect whether a horse has received ESWT prior to competition are needed. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy is known to affect inflammatory mediators in other species, and if these mediators are altered in the horse, these could serve as biomarkers of ESWT. Objective: To test the hypothesis that a single application of ESWT will alter the circulating protein concentrations of 10 inflammatory mediators in horse plasma. Methods: Prospective repeated measures experimental study. Methods: Elev...
McClellan A, Paterson YZ, Paillot R, Guest DJ.In horses and humans, tendon injuries are a significant problem. Not only can they occur in both athletes and nonathletes, they require lengthy periods of recuperation and undergo poor natural regeneration, which leads to high reinjury rates. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) may provide a renewable source of allogeneic cells to use in clinical applications to aid tissue regeneration. Equine ESCs can undergo tenocyte differentiation in vivo and in vitro, but the immune properties of tenocytes isolated from either ESCs or tissues have not previously been characterized. Here, we demonstrate that equin...
Wernery U, Rodriguez Caveney M, Wernery R, Raghavan R, Laroucau K, Syriac G, Thomas SM, John J, Joseph M, Jose S, Joseph S, Woo P.Six horses were challenged experimentally with a strain of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolated from a fatal case of the infection in a dromedary camel years earlier in the Emirate of Dubai. Three horses were inoculated subcutaneously and in 3 the bacterium was administered by the oral route. Four of the horses became serologically positive based on reactions to one or more of the OIE described tests for glanders. B. pseudomallei was re-isolated from the 4 serological positive horses. Only one of the subcutaneously infected horses, developed fever for 3 days. The white blood cell values and the ...
Willingham-Lane JM, Berghaus LJ, Berghaus RD, Hart KA, Giguère S.The soil-dwelling, saprophytic actinomycete is a facultative intracellular pathogen of macrophages and causes severe bronchopneumonia when inhaled by susceptible foals. Standard treatment for disease is dual-antimicrobial therapy with a macrolide and rifampin. Thoracic ultrasonography and early treatment with antimicrobials prior to the development of clinical signs are used as means of controlling endemic infection on many farms. Concurrently with the increased use of macrolides and rifampin for chemoprophylaxis and the treatment of subclinically affected foals, a significant increase in t...
Stewart AJ, Hackett E, Bertin FR, Towns TJ.Plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and serum cortisol concentrations increase with illness-associated stress. Dynamics of plasma ACTH and serum cortisol concentrations in adult horses with systemic illness are undocumented. Objective: To determine whether ACTH and cortisol concentrations and the ACTH/cortisol ratio vary with survival, the presence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), or ischemic gastrointestinal lesions at admission, or throughout hospitalization. Methods: One hundred fifty-one adult horses. Methods: Prospective study measuring serum cortisol and plasma AC...
Poelaert KCK, Van Cleemput J, Laval K, Xie J, Favoreel HW, Nauwynck HJ.The ancestral equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1), closely related to human herpes viruses, exploits leukocytes to reach its target organs, accordingly evading the immune surveillance system. Circulating EHV1 strains can be divided into abortigenic/neurovirulent, causing reproductive/neurological disorders. Neurovirulent EHV1 more efficiently recruits monocytic CD172a cells to the upper respiratory tract (URT), while abortigenic EHV1 tempers monocyte migration. Whether similar results could be expected for T lymphocytes is not known. Therefore, we questioned whether differences in T cell recruitment c...
Prutton JSW, Barnum S, Pusterla N.Equine coronavirus (ECoV) is considered an emerging enteric virus with reported morbidity rates ranging from 10 to 83% and fatality rates ranging from 7 to 27% in adult horses; a vaccine for ECoV is currently not available. This study investigated the safety, humoral response and viral shedding in horses inoculated with a commercially available modified-live bovine coronavirus (BCoV) vaccine. Twelve healthy adult horses were vaccinated twice, 3Â weeks apart, either orally, intranasally or intrarectally. Two healthy unvaccinated horses served as sentinel controls. Following each vaccine adminis...
Fedorka CE, Ball BA, Scoggin KE, Loux SC, Troedsson MHT, Adams AA.Ascending placentitis is one of the leading causes of abortion in the horse. Minimal work has focused on its effect on fetal fluids or the antenatal immune response of the fetus. Placentitis was induced via transcervical inoculation of Streptococcus equi ssp Zooepidemicus, and fluids/serum/tissues were collected 4-6Â days later following euthanasia. Cytokine concentrations were detected using a multiplex immunoassay within fetal fluids (amniotic and allantoic) and serum (maternal and fetal) in inoculated and control mares. In addition, tissues from fetal (spleen, liver, lung, umbilicus, amnioa...
Witkowska-PiÅ‚aszewicz O, BÄ…ska P, Czopowicz M, Å»migrodzka M, Szarska E, Szczepaniak J, Nowak Z, Winnicka A, CywiÅ„ska A.Development of an anti-inflammatory state during physical training has been postulated in both human and equine athletes, but it is not completely understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether endurance training changes pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine profiles within a 20-week training season in young inexperienced endurance horses. Nine Arabian horses were examined in this prospective 20-week follow-up study. Blood samples were analysed 5 times monthly, at rest and after training sessions. Routine haematological examinations were performed. Cytokine patterns including IL-1Î...
Lawson AL, Pittaway CE, Sparrow RM, Balkwill EC, Coles GC, Tilley A, Wilson AD.Anoplocephala perfoliata is the commonest equine tapeworm, the adult parasites are attached in groups close to the ileocaecal valve causing marked inflammatory pathology. This work aimed to characterize the nature of the in vivo mucosal immune response to A perfoliata, and to investigate the role of A perfoliata excretory-secretory components in modulating in vitro immune responses. Real-time PCR detected elevation of IL13 and TGFβ transcription in early-stage A perfoliata infection. In late-stage infection, IL-13, IL4 and Ifn transcripts were reduced while the regulatory cytokines, TGFβ...
Beeson SK, Mickelson JR, McCue ME.Total genetic map length and local recombination landscapes typically vary within and across populations. As a first step to understanding the recombination landscape in the domestic horse, we calculated population recombination rates and identified likely recombination hotspots using approximately 1.8 million SNP genotypes for 485 horses from 32 distinct breeds. The resulting breed-averaged recombination map spans 2.36 Gb and accounts for 2939.07 cM. Recombination hotspots occur once per 23.8 Mb on average and account for ∼9% of the physical map length. Regions with elevated recombination r...
François L, Hoskens H, Velie BD, Stinckens A, Tinel S, Lamberigts C, Peeters L, Savelkoul HFJ, Tijhaar E, Lindgren G, Janssens S, Ducro BJ, Buys N....Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), which is a cutaneous allergic reaction to antigens from Culicoides spp., is the most prevalent skin disorder in horses. Misdiagnosis is possible, as IBH is usually diagnosed based on clinical signs. Our study is the first to employ IgE levels against several recombinant Culicoides spp. allergens as an objective, independent, and quantitative phenotype to improve the power to detect genetic variants that underlie IBH. Genotypes of 200 Shetland ponies, 127 Icelandic horses, and 223 Belgian Warmblood horses were analyzed while using a mixed model approach. No s...
The proteins galectin-1 and Progesterone Induced Blocking Factor (PIBF) are present on human and murine trophoblast and are thought to influence both immunomodulation and trophoblast invasion. In equids, the invasive component of the placenta, the endometrial cups, stimulate maternal cell-mediated and humoral immune responses. It was therefore of interest to know if galectin-1 or PIBF could be immunolocalised to the invasive and/or non-invasive components of the equine placenta. Horse and mule (♀ horse X ♂ donkey) embryos and placental tissues between Days 12 and 124 of gestation were stai...
Bannai H, Tsujimura K, Nemoto M, Ohta M, Yamanaka T, Kokado H, Matsumura T.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) infection is a major cause of pyrexias in winter among Japanese racehorses. In 2014-2015, the Japan Racing Association (JRA) changed the EHV-1 vaccine from an inactivated vaccine to a live vaccine (both produced by Nisseiken). To evaluate the effect of changing the vaccines, the capacities of these vaccines to induce virus-neutralizing (VN) antibodies were compared, and an epizootiological investigation of EHV-1 was performed at the JRA Ritto Training Center during epizootic periods from 2010-2011 to 2016-2017. Results: Three-year-old horses that received the ...
Carossino M, Dini P, Kalbfleisch TS, Loynachan AT, Canisso IF, Cook RF, Timoney PJ, Balasuriya UBR.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) has the unique ability to establish long-term persistent infection in the reproductive tract of stallions and be sexually transmitted. Previous studies showed that long-term persistent infection is associated with a specific allele of the CXCL16 gene (CXCL16S) and that persistence is maintained despite the presence of local inflammatory and humoral and mucosal antibody responses. Here, we performed transcriptomic analysis of the ampullae, the primary site of EAV persistence in long-term EAV carrier stallions, to understand the molecular signatures of viral persiste...
Tsunoda RH, Serrano-Recalde EC, Arruda RP, Oliveira BMM, Pinto SCC, Celeghini ECC.The aim was to evaluate effects of addition of pentoxifylline to skimmed milk semen extender on uterine inflammatory response. Thirty-six estrous cycles of 15 mares were randomly divided into five groups for artificial insemination (AI): Control: mimicking the AI procedure (n = 7); Extender: deposition of skimmed milk based extender (n = 7); Extender + PTX: skimmed milk based extender plus pentoxifylline (7.18 mM; n = 8); Semen: semen diluted with extender without pentoxifylline (n = 7), and Semen + PTX: semen diluted with extender containing pentoxifylline (n = 7). M...
Friso AM, Segabinazzi LGTM, Cyrino M, Correal SB, Freitas-Dell'Aqua CP, Teoro do Carmo M, Dell'Aqua JA, Miró J, Papa FO, Alvarenga MA.Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a therapeutic option for the treatment of inflammation. However, negative effects of non-selective NSAIDs for treatment of mares with endometritis have been described, including delayed uterine clearance and impairment of ovulations. Firocoxib is a specific cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor and has the ability to act in the uterus of mares. We investigated the effects of firocoxib on ovulation rate, numbers of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs), and COX-2 protein levels in the endometrial tissue of susceptible mares after insemination. Two ...
Szóstek-Mioduchowska AZ, Baclawska A, Okuda K, Skarzynski DJ.Equine endometrosis (endometrial fibrosis) is a degenerative chronic process that occurs in the uterus of the mare and disturbs proper endometrial function. Fibrosis is attributed to excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. The turnover of ECM is mediated by matrix metallopeptidases (MMP). Previously, it was shown that cytokines modulate MMP expression in other tissues and may regulate fibrosis indirectly by attracting inflammatory cells to the site of inflammation and directly on various tissues. However, the regulation of MMP expression in equine endometrosis is still r...
El-Hage CM, Bannai H, Wiethoelter AK, Firestone SM, Heislers CM, Allen JL, Waller AS, Gilkerson JR.To determine the nature of serological responses in Australian horses using a commercial duplex indirect ELISA (iELISA) following vaccination against strangles. Methods: A group (n = 19) of client-owned horses from five properties were recruited to receive a primary course of a Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) extract vaccine. Serological responses were determined by duplex iELISA incorporating S. equi-specific fragments of two cell wall proteins, SEQ2190 and SeM (antigens (Ag) A and C, respectively). Methods: The horses were administered a primary strangles vaccination course. Blood w...
Hansen S, Otten ND, Fjeldborg J, Baptiste KE, Horohov DW.The objectives of this study were to evaluate the natural age-related variation and compare the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the peripheral blood and lower airways of horses. The mRNA expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 TNF-α TLR-4 in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were studied by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and differential cell count cytology from 44 horses of different ages. A significant age-related increase was found for the mRNA expression of IL-6, IL-8, TLR-4 and TNF-α in stimulated BAL cells and for T...
Joonè CJ, Nolan MB, Bertschinger HJ, Schulman ML.A sequence of studies is reviewed that reported the domestic horse (Equus caballus) mare as an appropriate and accessible research platform for recording clinical and laboratory data post-immunisation with anti- GnRH and -zona pellucida (ZP) immunocontraceptive vaccines. Experience with a native porcine ZP (pZP) vaccine in African elephant (Loxodonta africana) cows highlighted needs for improving vaccine formulations and more clearly defining associated ovarian effects and safety profiles. Initially, the efficacy, reversibility and safety of the GnRH vaccine Improvac® in mares was demonstrate...
Ząbek T, Semik-Gurgul E, Szmatoła T, Gurgul A, Fornal A, Bugno-Poniewierska M.Horses are one of the longest-living species of farm animals. Advanced age is often associated with a decrease in body condition, dysfunction of immune system, and late-onset disorders. Due to this, the search for new solutions in the prevention and treatment of pathological conditions of the advanced age of horses is desirable. That is why the identification of aging-related changes in the horse genome is interesting in this respect. In the recent years, the research on aging includes studies of age-related epigenetic effects observed on the DNA methylation level. We applied reduced represent...
Kim H, Lee YK, Kang SC, Han BK, Choi KM.Various new technologies have been applied for developing vaccines against various animal diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine technology was used for manufacturing the porcine circovirus type 2 and RNA particle vaccines based on an alphavirus vector for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). Although VLP is classified as a killed-virus vaccine, because its structure is similar to the original virus, it can induce long-term and cell-mediated immunity. The RNA particle vaccine used a Venezuela equine encephalitis (VEE) virus gene as a vector. The VEE virus partial gene can be substituted with ...
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...
Lindenberg FC, Lützhøft DO, Krych L, Fielden J, Kot W, Frøkiær H, van Galen G, Nielsen DS, Hansen AK.Some oligosaccharides induce growth of anti-inflammatory bacterial species and induce regulatory immunity in humans as well as animals. We have shown that the equine gut microbiota and the immune-microbial homeostasis largely stabilize within the first 50 days of life. Furthermore, we have previously established that certain bacterial species in the equine gut correlated with regulatory immunity. Accordingly, we hypothesized that an oligosaccharide rich diet fed to foals during the first 50 days would increase the abundance of bacterial species associated with regulatory immunity, and that thi...
Reemers S, Sonnemans D, Horspool L, van Bommel S, Cao Q, van de Zande S.Vaccination is an effective tool to limit equine influenza virus (EIV H3N8) infection, a contagious respiratory disease with potentially huge economic impact. The study assessed the effects of antigenic change on vaccine efficacy and the need for strain update. Horses were vaccinated (V1 and V2) with an ISCOMatrix-adjuvanted, whole inactivated virus vaccine (Equilis Prequenza, group 2, FC1 and European strains) or a carbomer-adjuvanted, modified vector vaccine (ProteqFlu, group 3, FC1 and FC2 HA genes). Serology (SRH, HI, VN), clinical signs and viral shedding were assessed in comparison to un...
Jacobsen S, Vinther AM, Kjelgaard-Hansen M, Nielsen LN.Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major equine acute phase protein and of great value in detection and monitoring of inflammation. A new immunoturbidometric assay based on monoclonal antibodies (VET-SAA, Eiken Chemical Co., Japan) may be useful for SAA measurements in routine diagnostic laboratories. The aim of the study was to validate the VET-SAA immunoturbidometric assay and use it to measure serum SAA concentrations in a variety of clinical cases. Precision was assessed by intra- and interassay coefficients of variation of repeated measurements of serum pools (low, intermediate, high concentratio...
Longworth KE.Pulmonary intravascular macrophages are an important part of the mononuclear phagocyte system in some species of mammals, mainly sheep and other ruminants, pigs, and horses. These cells phagocytize foreign particles, cell debris and pathogens that pass through the pulmonary circulation. Species with intravascular macrophages localize intravenously injected tracer particles and bacteria predominantly in the lung rather than the liver, and exhibit pulmonary hypertension when these cells are activated. Both in vivo and in vitro studies show that pulmonary intravascular macrophages have distinct s...
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...
The Journal of hygieneJune 1, 1983
Volume 90, Issue 3 371-384 doi: 10.1017/s0022172400029004
Wood JM, Mumford J, Folkers C, Scott AM, Schild GC.Serological responses to three bivalent aqueous equine influenza vaccines of different potency and an adjuvanted bivalent vaccine containing inactivated A/equine/Prague/56 (H7N7) and A/equine/Miami/63 (H3N8) viruses, were examined in seronegative ponies. Potencies of the vaccines, measured by single-radial-diffusion tests, ranged from 4 to 56 micrograms of haemagglutinin (HA) antigen activity/virus strain per dose. Serological responses to vaccination were examined by haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and single-radial-haemolysis (SRH) tests. Four weeks after a primary dose, HI responses to bo...
Jonsdottir S, Stefansdottir SB, Kristinarson SB, Svansson V, Bjornsson JM, Runarsdottir A, Wagner B, Marti E, Torsteinsdottir S.Insect bite hypersensitivity is an allergic dermatitis of horses caused by bites of Culicoides midges. Sufficient amount of pure, endotoxin-free allergens is a prerequisite for development and monitoring of preventive and therapeutic allergen immunotherapy. Aims of the study were to compare the Culicoides nubeculosus (Cul n) allergens Cul n 3 and Cul n 4, produced in transgenic barley grains with the corresponding E. coli or insect cells expressed proteins for measuring antibody and cytokine responses. Allergen-specific IgG responses were measured by ELISA in sera from twelve horses not expose...
El-Hage CM, Savage CJ, Minke JM, Ficorilli NP, Watson J, Gilkerson JR.During the 2007 Australian equine influenza (EI) outbreak, an accelerated primary course 14 day intervaccination schedule was proposed, but not widely implemented. Expert opinion was divided as to the efficacy of such a schedule given the lack of published data. This study determined the level and duration of humoral immunity following administration of a recombinant canarypox-vectored vaccine (ALVAC-EIV) with a primary intervaccination interval of 14 days and booster at 105 days. Objective: To examine whether protective levels of immunity of adequate duration were achieved following a primary...
Burrage TG, Laegreid WW.African horsesickness (AHS) is a serious, non-contagious disease of horses and other solipeds caused by an arthropod-borne orbivirus of the family Reoviridae. In horses, AHS causes three distinct clinicopathologic syndromes, the pulmonary, cardiac and fever forms of the disease. Recent work has shown that the primary determinant of the form of disease expressed by naive horses is the virulence of the virus inoculum. Horses which recover from AHS exhibit solid humoral immunity against homologous challenge. Protective antibodies appear to be directed towards neutralizing epitopes on AHS virus VP...
Bowen RA, Bosco-Lauth A, Syvrud K, Thomas A, Meinert TR, Ludlow DR, Cook C, Salt J, Ons E.Over the last years West Nile virus (WNV) lineage 2 has spread from the African to the European continent. This study was conducted to demonstrate efficacy of an inactivated, lineage 1-based, WNV vaccine (Equip WNV) against intrathecal challenge of horses with a recent isolate of lineage 2 WNV. Twenty horses, sero-negative for WNV, were enrolled and were randomly allocated to one of two treatment groups: an unvaccinated control group (T01, n=10) and a group administered with Equip WNV (T02, n=10). Horses were vaccinated at Day 0 and 21 and were challenged at day 42 with WNV lineage 2, Nea Sant...
Ryan C, Giguère S.The objectives of this study were to compare relative vaccine-specific serum immunoglobulin concentrations, vaccine-specific lymphoproliferative responses, and cytokine profiles of proliferating lymphocytes between 3-day-old foals, 3-month-old foals, and adult horses after vaccination with a killed adjuvanted vaccine. Horses were vaccinated intramuscularly twice at 3-week intervals with a vaccine containing antigens from bovine viral respiratory pathogens to avoid interference from maternal antibody. Both groups of foals and adult horses responded to the vaccine with a significant increase in ...
Galvin P, Gildea S, Arkins S, Walsh C, Cullinane A.Antibodies against equine influenza virus (EIV) are traditionally quantified by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) or single radial haemolysis (SRH). Objective: To evaluate an ELISA for the detection of antibodies against influenza nucleoprotein in the diagnosis and surveillance of equine influenza (EI). Methods: The ELISA was compared with the SRH and HI tests. Serial serum samples from 203 naturally and 14 experimentally infected horses, from 60 weanlings following primary vaccination with five different vaccines (two whole inactivated vaccines, two ISCOM-based subunit vaccines and a recombin...
Folmar CN, Cywes-Bentley C, Bordin AI, Rocha JN, Bray JM, Kahn SK, Schuckert AE, Pier GB, Cohen ND.The bacterium Rhodococcus equi can cause severe pneumonia in foals. The absence of a licensed vaccine and limited effectiveness of commercial R. equi hyperimmune plasma (RE-HIP) create a great need for improved prevention of this disease. Objective: Plasma hyperimmune to the capsular polysaccharide poly-N-acetyl glucosamine (PNAG) would be significantly more effective than RE-HIP at mediating complement deposition and opsonophagocytic killing (OPK) of R. equi. Methods: Venipuncture was performed on 9 Quarter Horses. Methods: The ability of the following plasma sources to mediate complement com...
Go YY, Cook RF, Fulgêncio JQ, Campos JR, Henney P, Timoney PJ, Horohov DW, Balasuriya UB.In a recent study, we demonstrated that the virulent Bucyrus strain (VBS) of EAV could infect in vitro a small population of CD3(+) T lymphocytes from some but not all horses. Furthermore, we have shown that a common haplotype is associated with this in vitro CD3(+) T cell susceptibility/resistance phenotype to EAV infection. In this study, we investigated whether the differences in the susceptibility or resistance of CD3(+) T cells in vitro correlate with the outcome and severity of clinical signs in vivo. Thus, horses were divided into two groups based on their CD3(+) T cell susceptible or r...
Liu M, Liu T, Bordin A, Nerren J, Cohen N.Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) activation stimulates protective immune responses against intracellular pathogens by phagocytes, including neutrophils. This study examined TLR9-mediated neutrophil activation in neonatal foals. Unmethylated CpGs, ligands for TLR9, were used to stimulate equine neutrophils, either purified or in contact with other peripheral blood leukocytes. Rhodococcus equi was used as another stimulus in parallel. TLR9 mRNA was constitutively expressed at a similar level in purified equine neutrophils across different ages from birth to adulthood, and expression was not affected ...
Soboll G, Hussey SB, Whalley JM, Allen GP, Koen MT, Santucci N, Fraser DG, Macklin MD, Swain WF, Lunn DP.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) is the cause of serious disease with high economic impact on the horse industry, as outbreaks of EHV-1 disease occur every year despite the frequent use of vaccines. Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) are important for protection from primary and reactivating latent EHV-1 infection. DNA vaccination is a powerful technique for stimulating CTLs, and the aim of this study was to assess antibody and cellular immune responses and protection resulting from DNA vaccination of ponies with combinations of EHV-1 genes. Fifteen ponies were divided into three groups of five ponies...
Van Hecke L, Magri C, Duchateau L, Beerts C, Geburek F, Suls M, Da Dalt L, Patruno M, Saunders J, Broeckx SY, Depuydt E, Spaas JH.The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for the treatment of equine joint disease is widely investigated because of their regenerative and immunomodulatory potential. Allogeneic MSCs provide a promising alternative to autologous MSCs, since the former are immediately available and enable a thorough donor screening. However, questions have been raised concerning the immunogenic potential of allogeneic MSCs, especially after repeated administration. Methods: Current retrospective study assessed the cellular and humoral immunogenicity of ten jumping and dressage horses with naturally occurring d...
Torsteinsdottir S, Scheidegger S, Baselgia S, Jonsdottir S, Svansson V, Björnsdottir S, Marti E.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an IgE-mediated dermatitis caused by bites of Culicoides spp., which occurs frequently in horses imported from Iceland to continental Europe. IBH does not occur in Iceland because Culicoides species that bite horses are not present. However, Simulium vittatum (S. vittatum) are found in Iceland. In Europe, blood basophils from IBH-affected horses release significantly more sulfidoleukotrienes (sLT) than those from healthy controls after in vitro stimulation with Culicoides nubeculosus (C. nubeculosus) and S. vittatum. Aims of the study were: (I) using the s...
Coombs DK, Patton T, Kohler AK, Soboll G, Breathnach C, Townsend HG, Lunn DP.Protecting equids against equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection remains an elusive goal. Repeated infection with EHV-1 leads to protective immunity against clinical respiratory disease, and a study was conducted to measure the regulatory cytokine response (IFN-gamma and IL-4) in repeatedly infected immune ponies compared to non-immune ponies. Two groups of four ponies were established. Group 1 ponies had previously been infected on two occasions, and most recently 7 months before this study. Group 2 ponies had no history no vaccination or challenge infection prior to this study. Both groups w...
Liepman RS, Dembek KA, Slovis NM, Reed SM, Toribio RE.Serum immunoglobulin (IgG) assessment in neonatal foals is considered standard care in equine hospitals to determine immunity and overall health. However, cut-off values of IgG to predict complete or partial failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) were developed 30 years ago and are largely empirical with little prospective or statistical data to support their use or association with outcome. Objective: To critically evaluate the traditional cut-off values of IgG in the assessment of FTPI (IgG 8 g/l as adequate transfer of passive immunity (ATPI). Odds of nonsurvival increased in propo...
Prescott JF, Johnson JA, Markham RJ.Four month-old foals were infected orally with 75 mL of a suspension of 5.0 x 10(8)Corynebacterium equi per mL. Two foals were killed after ten days and had scanty number of C. equi in the caeco-colic lymph nodes. No C. equi were recovered from the other two foals, killed 20 days after infection. No gross pathological change was detected in these four foals, although mild microscopic lesions were seen in the ileum of one foal. Results of lymphocyte blastogenesis using peripheral blood lymphocytes and C. equi antigens showed, however, that lymphocytes became sensitized to C. equi following this...
Bryant CE, Ouellette A, Lohmann K, Vandenplas M, Moore JN, Maskell DJ, Farnfield BA.Sepsis and endotoxaemia are important causes of morbidity and mortality in humans. Research on sepsis focuses on rodent models most of which are poorly responsive to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and thus do not mimic very well the high sensitivity of humans. Therefore, there is a need to develop more clinically relevant models. Horses suffer from a similar endotoxaemic syndrome to humans with high morbidity and mortality. LPS analogues that act as antagonists at Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) are being developed as novel treatments for endotoxaemia. Due to differences in recognition of ligands by TL...
Breathnach CC, Rudersdorf R, Lunn DP.Recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vectors expressing equine influenza virus genes were constructed and evaluated for use in equine vaccination. Two strains of recombinant MVA, expressing either hemagglutinin (HA) or nucleoprotein (NP) genes were constructed. Each influenza virus gene was cloned from A/equine/Kentucky/1/81 (Eq/Ky) into an MVA construction plasmid, and was introduced to the deletion III locus of the wild type MVA genome by homologous recombination. Recombinant viruses were plaque purified, and antigen expression was confirmed by immunostaining. Two ponies were primed by...
McGuire TC, O'Rourke KI, Perryman LE.Virus replication and subsequent viremia are clearly correlated with clinical disease in EIAV infected horses. Termination of viremia is the result of specific immune responses. Recurrences of viremia are associated with antigenic variation of neutralization-sensitive epitopes. Immunosuppression experiments indicate that the eventual control of EIAV and development of carriers is mediated by the immune system. Even though the immune response to EIAV has a protective effect, immune responses also cause some of the lesions. At least one part of the anemia, erythrocyte destruction, is caused by t...
