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.
Taylor S.Sepsis is defined as an exaggerated, systemic inflammatory response to infection and is a common condition in horses. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) associated with bacterial infection is a hallmark of sepsis. Sepsis in neonatal foals is a common sequela of failure of passive transfer and, in addition to development of SIRS, may be characterised by bacteraemia, pneumonia, enterocolitis, omphalophlebitis, meningoencephalitis or arthritis. Sepsis in mature horses is most commonly observed secondary to gastrointestinal lesions that result in disrupted mucosa and bacterial transloc...
Perkins GA, Wagner B.The development of equine immunity from the fetus to adulthood is complex. The foal's immune response and the immune mechanisms that they are equipped with, along with changes over the first months of life until the immune system becomes adult-like, are only partially understood. While several innate immune responses seem to be fully functional from birth, the onset of adaptive immune response is delayed. For some adaptive immune parameters, such as immunoglobin (Ig)G1, IgG3, IgG5 and IgA antibodies, the immune response starts before or at birth and matures within 3 months of life. Other antib...
Davis EG, Bello NM, Bryan AJ, Hankins K, Wilkerson M.Protection from infectious disease requires antigen-specific immunity. In foals, most vaccine protocols are delayed until 6 months to avoid maternal antibody interference. Susceptibility to disease may exist prior to administration of vaccination at age 4-6 months. Objective: The aim of this investigation was to characterise immune activation among healthy foals in response to a multivalent vaccine protocol and compare immune responses when foals were vaccinated at age either 90 or 180 days. Methods: Randomised block design. Methods: Twelve healthy foals with colostral transfer were blocked fo...
Bullone M, Lavoie JP.Animal models have been studied to unravel etiological, immunopathological, and genetic attributes leading to asthma. However, while experiments in which the disease is artificially induced have helped discovering biological and molecular pathways leading to allergic airway inflammation, their contribution to the understanding of the causality of the disease has been more limited. Horses naturally suffer from an asthma-like condition called "heaves" which presents sticking similarities with human asthma. It is characterized by reversible airway obstruction, airway neutrophilic inflammation, an...
Do Carmo GM, Da Silva AS, Klauck V, Pazinato R, Moura AB, Duarte T, Duarte MM, Bochi GV, Moresco RN, Stefani LM.Toxoplasmosis is an important parasitic disease affecting several species of mammals, but little is known about this disease in horses. This study aimed to investigate the levels of several immunological variables and markers of cell damage in the serum of seropositive horses for Toxoplasma gondii. Sera samples of adult horses from the Santa Catarina State, Brazil used on a previous study were divided into groups according to their antibody levels for T. gondii determined by immunofluorescence assay, i.e. 20 samples from seronegative horses (Group A - control), 20 samples from horses with tite...
Bielefeldt-Ohmann H, Prow NA, Wang W, Tan CS, Coyle M, Douma A, Hobson-Peters J, Kidd L, Hall RA, Petrovsky N.In 2011, following severe flooding in Eastern Australia, an unprecedented epidemic of equine encephalitis occurred in South-Eastern Australia, caused by Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) and a new variant strain of Kunjin virus, a subtype of West Nile virus (WNVKUN). This prompted us to assess whether a delta inulin-adjuvanted, inactivated cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccine (JE-ADVAXâ„¢) could be used in horses, including pregnant mares and foals, to not only induce immunity to JEV, but also elicit cross-protective antibodies against MVEV and WNVKUN. Foals, 74...
Janda J, Lehmann M, Luttmann W, Marti E.Interleukin-3 is a growth and differentiation factor for various hematopoietic cells. IL-3 also enhances stimulus-dependent release of mediators and cytokine production by mature basophils. Function of IL-3 has not been studied in horses because of lack of horse-specific reagents. Our aim was to produce recombinant equine IL-3 and test its effect on sulfidoleukotriene and cytokine production by equine peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL). Equine IL-3 was cloned, expressed in E. coli and purified. PBL of 19 healthy and 20 insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH)-affected horses were stimulated with Culi...
Jónsson H, Schubert M, Seguin-Orlando A, Ginolhac A, Petersen L, Fumagalli M, Albrechtsen A, Petersen B, Korneliussen TS, Vilstrup JT, Lear T....Horses, asses, and zebras belong to a single genus, Equus, which emerged 4.0-4.5 Mya. Although the equine fossil record represents a textbook example of evolution, the succession of events that gave rise to the diversity of species existing today remains unclear. Here we present six genomes from each living species of asses and zebras. This completes the set of genomes available for all extant species in the genus, which was hitherto represented only by the horse and the domestic donkey. In addition, we used a museum specimen to characterize the genome of the quagga zebra, which was driven to ...
Bauquier JR, Tudor E, Bailey SR.Despite the severity and common occurrence of equine endotoxaemia, the available anti-endotoxic treatments do not effectively target key inflammatory mechanisms such as leucocyte activation and cytokine production. In this study, four compounds with potential anti-endotoxic effects, namely rolipram, azithromycin, ethyl pyruvate and metformin, were investigated in vitro using equine whole blood stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide. TNF-α and IL-1β production were measured in plasma. Rolipram was the most potent inhibitor of cytokine production (IC50 0.84 and 4.68 μm for TNF-α and IL...
Glikin GC, Finocchiaro LM.Despite the important progress obtained in the treatment of some pets' malignancies, new treatments need to be developed. Being critical in cancer control and progression, the immune system's appropriate modulation may provide effective therapeutic options. In this review we summarize the outcomes of published immunogene therapy veterinary clinical trials reported by many research centers. A variety of tumors such as canine melanoma, soft tissue sarcomas, osteosarcoma and lymphoma, feline fibrosarcoma, and equine melanoma were subjected to different treatment approaches. Both viral and mainly ...
Paillot R.Equine influenza (EI) is a major respiratory disease of horses, which is still causing substantial outbreaks worldwide despite several decades of surveillance and prevention. Alongside quarantine procedures, vaccination is widely used to prevent or limit spread of the disease. The panel of EI vaccines commercially available is probably one of the most varied, including whole inactivated virus vaccines, Immuno-Stimulating Complex adjuvanted vaccines (ISCOM and ISCOM-Matrix), a live attenuated equine influenza virus (EIV) vaccine and a recombinant poxvirus-vectored vaccine. Several other strateg...
Lewis SR, Ellison SP, Dascanio JJ, Lindsay DS, Gogal RM, Werre SR, Surendran N, Breen ME, Heid BM, Andrews FM, Buechner-Maxwell VA, Witonsky SG.Sarcocystis neurona is the most common cause of Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM), affecting 0.5-1% horses in the United States during their lifetimes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the equine immune responses in an experimentally induced Sarcocystis neurona infection model. Neurologic parameters were recorded prior to and throughout the 70-day study by blinded investigators. Recombinant SnSAG1 ELISA for serum and CSF were used to confirm and track disease progression. All experimentally infected horses displayed neurologic signs after infection. Neutrophils, monocytes, an...
Balasuriya UB.Equine arteritis virus (EAV), the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), is a respiratory and reproductive disease that occurs throughout the world. EAV infection is highly species-specific and exclusively limited to members of the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, mules, and zebras. EVA is an economically important disease and outbreaks could cause significant losses to the equine industry. The primary objective of this article is to summarize current understanding of EVA, specifically the disease, pathogenesis, epidemiology, host immune response, vaccination and treat...
Tabynov K, Kydyrbayev Z, Ryskeldinova S, Assanzhanova N, Kozhamkulov Y, Inkarbekov D, Sansyzbay A.To design and evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a modified-live vaccine to prevent equine influenza virus (EIV) infection based on the novel reassortant cold-adapted strain A/HK/Otar/6:2/2010. Methods: Surface proteins (HA, NA) from the wild-type strain A/equine/Otar/764/2007 (H3N8) and internal proteins (PB2, PB1, PA, NP, M, NS) from the attenuated cold-adapted donor strain A/Hong Kong/1/68/162/35CA (H3N2) were included in the vaccine. Horses were administered 10(9.2) EID50 /mL of the modified-live vaccine or saline solution using a nasal spray. The clinical condition of the animals w...
Horohov DW.The modern horse, Equus caballus has historically made important contributions to the field of immunology, dating back to Emil von Behring's description of curative antibodies in equine serum over a century ago. While the horse continues to play an important role in human serotherapy, the mouse has replaced the horse as the predominant experimental animal in immunology research. Nevertheless, continuing efforts have led to an improved understanding of the equine immune response in a variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Based on this information, we can begin to identify specific ...
Page AE, Stills HF, Horohov DW.Multiple hypotheses into the age-based susceptibility of animals to Lawsonia intracellularis exist, including the decline of passively acquired antibodies. Objective: To determine whether the decline in passively acquired antibodies in horses is responsible for the age predilection of equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE). Additional objectives included examination of various risk factors for the development of EPE as well as the determination of naturally occurring attack rates for clinical and subclinical EPE. Methods: Prospective, multifarm field study. Methods: A total of 369 mare and f...
Cohen ND, Bourquin JR, Bordin AI, Kuskie KR, Brake CN, Weaver KB, Liu M, Felippe MJ, Kogut MH.Neutrophils play an important role in protecting against infection. Foals have age-dependent deficiencies in neutrophil function that may contribute to their predisposition to infection. Thus, we investigated the ability of a CpG-ODN formulated with Emulsigen to modulate functional responses of neutrophils in neonatal foals. Eighteen foals were randomly assigned to receive either a CpG-ODN with Emulsigen (N = 9) or saline intramuscularly at ages 1 and 7 days. At ages 1, 3, 9, 14, and 28, blood was collected and neutrophils were isolated from each foal. Neutrophils were assessed for basal and R...
Nogradi N, Couetil LL, Messick J, Stochelski MA, Burgess JR.Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) may benefit humans and animals with chronic inflammatory diseases. Objective: Omega-3 PUFA supplementation improves clinical signs, lung function, and airway inflammation in horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) and inflammatory airway disease (IAD). Methods: Eight research horses and 35 client-owned horses. Methods: A pilot study examined the dose of PUFA that can alter plasma PUFA composition. Then, a randomized, controlled clinical trial was performed in horses with RAO and IAD. Horses were fed a complete pelleted diet with no hay and rando...
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...
Bundgaard L, Jacobsen S, Dyrlund TF, Sørensen MA, Harman VM, Beynon RJ, Brownridge PJ, Petersen LJ, Bendixen E.The aim of this study was the development of a quantitative assay that could support future studies of a panel of acute phase proteins (APPs) in the horse. The assay was based on a quantification concatamer (QconCAT) coupled to selected reaction monitoring methodology. Thirty-two peptides, corresponding to 13 putative or confirmed APPs for the Equus caballus (equine) species were selected for the design of a QconCAT construct. The gene encoding the QconCAT was synthesized and expressed as an isotope-labeled chimaeric protein in Escherichia coli. The QconCAT tryptic peptides were analyzed on a ...
Pusterla N, Hussey GS.Equine myeloencephalopathy (EHM), an uncommon manifestation of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection, can cause devastating losses on individual farms, boarding stables, veterinary hospitals, and show and racing venues. An improved understanding of EHM has emerged from experimental studies and from data collected during field outbreaks at riding schools, racetracks, horse shows, and veterinary hospitals throughout North America and Europe. These outbreaks have highlighted the contagious nature of EHV-1 and have prompted a reevaluation of diagnostic procedures, treatment modalities, preventati...
Summerfield A, Auray G, Ricklin M.Dendritic cells (DC) have a main function in innate immunity in that they sense infections and environmental antigens at the skin and mucosal surfaces and thereby critically influence decisions about immune activation or tolerance. As professional antigen-presenting cells, they are essential for induction of adaptive immune responses. Consequently, knowledge on this cell type is required to understand the immune systems of veterinary mammals, including cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, cats, and horses. Recent ontogenic studies define bona fide DC as an independent lineage of hematopoietic cells orig...
Page AE, Stills HF, Horohov DW.In the horse, Lawsonia intracellularis infection results in equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE). While upwards of 100% of weanlings on an endemic farm may seroconvert, only a small percentage (approximately 5%) will develop clinical disease. Cell-mediated immune mechanisms likely play a role in resistance to L. intracellularis and the absence of a L. intracellularis-specific IFN-γ response has been associated with the development of EPE. The goal of this study was to determine whether protection from clinical EPE is associated with the induction of a systemic IgG sub-isotypic response cons...
Mählmann K, Hamza E, Marti E, Dolf G, Klukowska J, Gerber V, Koch C.Recent studies suggest that regulatory T cells (Tregs) are associated with disease severity and progression in papilloma virus induced neoplasia. Bovine papilloma virus (BPV) is recognised as the most important aetiological factor in equine sarcoid (ES) disease. The aim of this study was to compare expression levels of Treg markers and associated cytokines in tissue samples of ES-affected equids with skin samples of healthy control horses. Eleven ES-affected, and 12 healthy horses were included in the study. Expression levels of forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3), interleukin 10 (IL10), interleuki...
Hackett ES, Lunn DP, Ferris RA, Horohov DW, Lappin MR, McCue PM.Neonatal sepsis is a common problem in foals and is a primary cause of death in the post natal period. Transient bacteraemia and subsequent host responses have not been described in the equine neonate. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine if transient bacteraemia occurs in foals within the first 72 h of life. Additional objectives included description of bacterial organisms associated with transient bacteraemia and concurrent cytokine gene expression in healthy foals. Methods: Prospective observational study in healthy foals. Methods: Blood was aseptically collecte...
Wilson AD.Horses are affected by a wide variety of arthropod ectoparasites, ranging from lice which spend their entire life on the host, through ticks which feed over a period of days, to numerous biting insects that only transiently visit the host to feed. The presence of ectoparasites elicits a number of host responses including innate inflammatory responses, adaptive immune reactions and altered behaviour; all of which can reduce the severity of the parasite burden. All of these different responses are linked through immune mechanisms mediated by mast cells and IgE antibodies which have an important ...
Battista JM, Tallmadge RL, Stokol T, Felippe MJ.We investigated how the equine fetus prepares its pre-immune humoral repertoire for an imminent exposure to pathogens in the neonatal period, particularly how the primary hematopoietic organs are equipped to support B cell hematopoiesis and immunoglobulin (Ig) diversity. We demonstrated that the liver and the bone marrow at approximately 100Â days of gestation (DG) are active sites of hematopoiesis based on the expression of signature messenger RNA (mRNA) (c-KIT, CD34, IL7R, CXCL12, IRF8, PU.1, PAX5, NOTCH1, GATA1, CEBPA) and protein markers (CD34, CD19, IgM, CD3, CD4, CD5, CD8, CD11b, CD172A)...
Rebordão MR, Carneiro C, Alexandre-Pires G, Brito P, Pereira C, Nunes T, Galvão A, Leitão A, Vilela C, Ferreira-Dias G.Besides the classical functions, neutrophils (PMNs) are able to release DNA in response to infectious stimuli, forming neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and killing pathogens. The pathogenesis of endometritis in the mare is not completely understood. The aim was to evaluate the in vitro capacity of equine PMNs to secrete NETs by chemical activation, or stimulated with Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (Szoo), Escherichia coli (Ecoli) or Staphylococcus capitis (Scap) strains obtained from mares with endometritis. Ex vivo endometrial mucus from mares with bacterial endometritis wer...
Yin X, Guo M, Gu Q, Wu X, Wei P, Wang X.Tetherin is an interferon-inducible host cell factor that blocks the viral particle release of the enveloped viruses. Most knowledge regarding the interaction between tetherin and viruses has been obtained using the primate lentiviral system. However, much less is known about the functional roles of tetherin on other lentiviruses. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is an important macrophage-tropic lentivirus that has been widely used as a practical model for investigating the evolution of the host-virus relationship. The host range of EIAV is reported to include all members of the Equidae ...
Noronha LE, Antczak DF.Pregnant mares demonstrate a reduction in cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) reactivity against cells from the breeding stallion. We investigated whether this effect is limited to activity against paternal major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens, and whether it occurs during MHC-compatible pregnancy. Methods: Mares were mated to carry MHC-compatible or MHC-incompatible pregnancies. CTL activity of these mares when pregnant and non-pregnant was measured against cells from horses with MHC haplotypes unrelated to the mare or breeding stallion. Results: While carrying MHC-incompatible pregnancie...
Na W, Lyoo KS, Yoon SW, Yeom M, Kang B, Moon H, Kim HK, Jeong DG, Kim JK, Song D.Equine influenza virus (EIV) causes a highly contagious disease in horses and other equids. Recently, we isolated an H3N8 EIV (A/equine/Kyonggi/SA1/2011) from a domestic horse in South Korea that exhibited symptoms of respiratory disease, and found that the EIV strain contained a naturally mutated NS gene segment encoding a truncated NS1 protein. In order to determine whether there was an association between the NS gene truncation and viral virulence, a reverse genetics system was applied to generate various NS gene recombinant viruses using the backbone of the H1N1 A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR/8)...
Sarkar S, Balasuriya UB, Horohov DW, Chambers TM.Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infects equine endothelial cells (EECs) lining the small blood vessels in the central nervous system. However, the effect of type I IFN on EHV-1 replication in the EECs is not well studied. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of type-I IFN on the replication of the neuropathogenic T953 strain of EHV-1 in vitro in EECs. The initial data showed that the EHV-1 was partly resistant to the biological effect of exogenously supplied recombinant equine IFN-α. Subsequent investigation into the mechanism of resistance showed that EHV-1 in...
Pass DA, Bolton JR.Four cases of chronic eosinophilic gastroenteritis in horses are described. The disease was manifested clinically by weight loss, malabsorption and diarrhea of soft, formless feces. A chronic inflammatory reaction, with diffuse and focal eosinophilic infiltrates, was present in the esophagus, stomach, small and large intestine, and mesenteric lymph nodes. The cause of the lesion was not determined but was thought to the due to an ingested allergen, as the lesion is indicative of an on-going, immediate hypersensitivity reaction. One horse had generalized acanthosis, hyperkeratosis, and ulcerati...
MacKay RJ.After inflammation is initiated by detection of antigen, plasma components and activated leukocytes are concentrated at the inflammatory site. Cellular and chemical effectors of inflammation are focused on the offending antigen, usually resulting in its destruction and elimination. Activation of endogenous counter-regulatory systems damps down the inflammatory process and is the first stage of repair. In addition to local effects, the inflammatory focus may initiate a continuum of systemic acute phase responses ranging from the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) to generalized immu...
Kamm JL, Riley CB, Parlane NA, Gee EK, McIlwraith CW.Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are believed to be hypoimmunogeneic with potential use for allogeneic administration. Bone marrow was harvested from Connemara (n = 1), Standardbred (n = 6), and Thoroughbred (n = 3) horses. MSCs were grouped by their level of expression of major histocompatibility factor II (MHC II). MSCs were then sub-grouped by those MSCs derived from universal blood donor horses. MSCs were isolated and cultured using media containing fetal bovine serum until adequate numbers were acquired. The MSCs were cultured in xenogen-free media for 48 h prior to use and d...
Machang'u RS, Prescott JF.Rhodococcus equi produces two exoenzymes (REE), a cholesterol oxidase in large amounts and a phospholipase C, which cause lysis of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) sensitized with Staphylococcus aureus beta toxin. Two immunization studies were done in foals to determine the role of antibody to REE in protection against R. equi pneumonia. In the first study, three foals (mean age 10 days) were vaccinated four times at 2-week intervals with over 1 million units of partially purified exoenzymes (PREE). In the second study, three foals (mean age 19 days) were administered plasma from an adult horse va...
RodrÃguez 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...
Azab W, Harman R, Miller D, Tallmadge R, Frampton AR, Antczak DF, Osterrieder N.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) was shown to use an unusual receptor for cellular entry - MHC-I molecules. Here, we demonstrated that the closely related EHV, EHV-4, also uses this strategy for cellular invasion, both in equine cells in culture and in the heterologous, non-permissive murine mastocytoma cell line (P815) after stable transfection with horse MHC-I genes. Using a panel of P815 cell lines transfected with individual horse MHC-I genes, we provided support for the hypothesis that EHV-1 and EHV-4 target classical polymorphic MHC-I molecules as viral entry receptors. All known equine ...
Echigoya Y, Morita S, Itou T, Sakai T.To evaluate effects of extracellular lactate on viability, shape change, lactate metabolism, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in equine polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs). Methods: PMNs isolated from equine venous blood samples. Methods: PMNs were incubated with 0 to 300mM lactate for 30 minutes before each experiment. Viability was assessed via trypan blue exclusion. Shape change was assessed via flow cytometry and light microscopy. Relative quantification of monocarboxylic acid transporter and lactate dehydrogenase lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isotype mRNAs was performed with a r...
Baalsrud KJ, Overnes G.Fifteen horses used for serum production were maintained on low vitamin E and selenium diets. They were divided into four groups receiving: Group 1 no supplements, Group 2 vitamin E, Group 3 selenium and Group 4 both vitamin E and selenium. The humoral immune response to novel antigens, such as tetanus toxoid and equine influenza virus, was increased in groups receiving either vitamin E or selenium/vitamin E. No effects were recorded on the titres against Escherichia coli or the levels of immunoglobulin G.
Brault SA, Blanchard MT, Gardner IA, Stott JL, Pusterla N, Mapes SM, Vernau W, Dejong KD, Maclachlan NJ.Equid herpesvirus-2 (EHV-2) infection is ubiquitous in horses. Although EHV-2 infection has been associated with several disease syndromes, its true pathogenic significance in horses remains uncertain. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), another gammaherpesvirus, has been shown to cause febrile illness in humans related to its immunopathologic effects. Thus, the purpose of this study was to describe the ontogeny of the immune response of a cohort of 9 foals to natural infection with EHV-2 by evaluating serial complete blood counts, lymphocyte morphology, cytokine gene expression in peripheral blood mono...
Burrows R, Goodridge D.The EHV-1 viruses of fetal origin grew better and had a wider tissue culture host range than those isolated from horses with respiratory diseases. Comparisons of a fetal isolate (F/304) and a respiratory disease isolate (R/NM-3) in partly immune horses showed that the F/304 virus infected horses more readily, grew better in the nasopharynx, was more likely to cause abortion, and was excreted to a greater extent into the environment.
Fernandez AS, Prescott JF, Nicholson VM.IgG was purified from horses immunized with repeated doses of virulence associated (VapA) enriched antigens extracted with Triton X-114 from the surface of a virulent strain of R. equi. This IgG were administered to mice immunosuppressed by prior treatment with indomethacin. Mice administered the higher dose were completely protected against intraperitoneal infection with R. equi; mice given the lower dose were partially protected. By contrast, mice administered concentrated nonimmune equine IgG were not protected. This study demonstrates that VapA may be an important antigen involved in humor...
Zilch TJ, Lee JJ, Saleem MZ, Zhang H, Cortese V, Voris N, McDonough SP, Divers TJ, Chang YF.Little information is available about experimental inoculation of leptospirosis in horses and the pathogenicity of Leptospira interrogans serovar Bratislava in this host. Objective: To determine the serological, clinical, pathological and haematological responses of horses to L. interrogans serovar Bratislava strain PigK151. Methods: Randomised controlled in vivo experiment. Methods: Ten seronegative female foals were divided into 2 groups, control (n = 4) and challenged (n = 6). The challenged group received 1 × 109 leptospires divided equally between topical ocular and intraperitoneal...
Cywińska A, Wyszyńska Z, Górecka R, Szarska E, Witkowski L, Dziekan P, Winnicka A, Schollenberger A.Strenuous exercise is recognized as a stress, which may induce functional immunodeficiency and increase individual susceptibility to infection. It has been shown in equine athletes, that alterations in leukocyte functions occur after moderate and submaximal exertion, however, no data deal with the effect of extreme physical exertion. In this study, we evaluated leukocyte functions (neutrophil oxidative burst and lymphocyte proliferation activity in response to mitogens) in horses following the CEI 3* 162 km endurance ride. Exercise-induced stress was manifested as neutrophilic leukocytosis and...
Wu F, Zhang S, Zhang Y, Mo R, Yan F, Wang H, Wong G, Chi H, Wang T, Feng N, Gao Y, Xia X, Zhao Y, Yang S.Ebola virus infections lead to severe hemorrhagic fevers in humans and nonhuman primates; and human fatality rates are as high as 67%-90%. Since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976, the only available treatments have been medical support or the emergency administration of experimental drugs. The absence of licensed vaccines and drugs against the Ebola virus impedes the prevention of viral infection. In this study, we generated recombinant baculoviruses (rBV) expressing the Sudan virus (SUDV) matrix structural protein (VP40) (rBV-VP40-VP40) or the SUDV glycoprotein (GP) (rBV-GP-GP), and SUDV...
Barrandeguy M, Vissani A, Olguin C, Barbara G, Valenzuela H, Becerra L, Tordoya M, Miño S, Thiry E.Equine coital exanthema (ECE), caused by equid herpesvirus 3 (EHV-3), has been recognized as an economically significant venereal disease for years. However, no infection models on the natural host have been established. In order to set up an experimental infection protocol, seronegative and seropositive mares were topically inoculated in the perineal region with 4 × 10(6)TCID(50)/ml of EHV-3. Clinical signs were then evaluated by means of a designed scoring system, and body temperature was recorded daily. Virological, and serological studies were also performed. Typical ECE lesions, with cli...
El-Sheikh Ali H, Loux SC, Kennedy L, Scoggin KE, Dini P, Fedorka CE, Kalbfleisch TS, Esteller-Vico A, Horohov DW, Erol E, Carter CN, Smith JL, Ball BA.Nocardioform placentitis (NP) continues to result in episodic outbreaks of abortion and preterm birth in mares and remains a poorly understood disease. The objective of this study was to characterize the transcriptome of the chorioallantois (CA) of mares with NP. The CA were collected from mares with confirmed NP based upon histopathology, microbiological culture and PCR for Amycolatopsis spp. Samples were collected from the margin of the NP lesion (NPL, n = 4) and grossly normal region (NPN, n = 4). Additionally, CA samples were collected from normal postpartum mares (Control; CRL, nâ...
Giese M, Bahr U, Jakob NJ, Kehm R, Handermann M, Müller H, Vahlenkamp TH, Spiess C, Schneider TH, Schusse G, Darai G.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is the causative agent of the equine viral arteritis. It is a small RNA virus with a linear, non-segmented plus RNA genome. EAV is a member of the Arteriviridae family that includes porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRSSV), simian haemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) and lactate dehydrogenase virus (LDV). The viral transmission is via respiratory and reproductive routes. Clinical signs in horses vary, and severe infection can lead to abortions in pregnant mares or neonatal foal death. The aim of this study was to investigate the development of the imm...
Beadle RE, Horohov DW, Gaunt SD.We hypothesised that horses affected with summer pasture-associated obstructive pulmonary disease (SPAOPD) react to an allergen or allergens in their summer environment that is either absent or present at lower levels in their winter environment; and that such allergens stimulate SPAOPD-affected horses to produce a different T helper lymphocyte cytokine profile from that of control horses. The primary objective of this study was to determine the cytokine mRNA profile of T helper lymphocytes obtained from summer pasture-associated obstructive pulmonary disease (SPAOPD) affected horses when 1) t...
Druml T, Brem G, Velie B, Lindgren G, Horna M, Ricard A, Grilz-Seger G.In horses, the autoimmune disease vitiligo is characterized by the loss of melanocytes and results in patchy depigmentation of the skin around the eyes, muzzle and the perianal region. Vitiligo-like depigmentation occurs predominantly in horses displaying the grey coat colour and is observed at a prevalence level of 26.0-67.0% in grey horses compared with only 0.8-3.5% in non-grey horses. While the polygenetic background of this complex disease is well documented in humans, the underlying candidate genes for this skin disorder in horses remain unknown. In this study we aim to perform a genome-...
Dilai M, Piro M, El Harrak M, Fougerolle S, Dehhaoui M, Dikrallah A, Legrand L, Paillot R, Fassi Fihri O.To evaluate the humoral immune response to mixed Equine Influenza vaccination, a common practice in the field, an experimental study was carried out on 42 unvaccinated thoroughbred weanling foals divided into six groups of seven. Three groups were vaccinated using a non-mixed protocol (Equilis Prequenza-Te, Proteqflu-Te or Calvenza-03) and three other groups were vaccinated using a mix of the three vaccines mentioned previously. Each weanling underwent a primary EI vaccination schedule composed of two primary immunisations (V1 and V2) four weeks apart followed by a third boost immunisation (V3...
Alcott CJ, Sponseller BA, Wong DM, Davis JL, Soliman AM, Wang C, Hsu W.Ketamine has immunomodulating effects both in vitro and in vivo during experimental endotoxemia in humans, rodents, and dogs. Objective: Subanesthetic doses of ketamine will attenuate the clinical and immunologic responses to experimental endotoxemia in horses. Methods: Nineteen healthy mares of various breeds. Methods: Experimental study. Horses were randomized into 2 groups: ketamine-treated horses (KET; n = 9) and saline-treated horses (SAL; n = 10). Both groups received 30 ng/kg of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, Escherichia coli, O55:B5) 1 hour after the start of a continuous rate infusion (CRI)...
Hellman S, Hjertner B, Morein B, Fossum C.The immunomodulatory effect of a new particulate adjuvant, G3, alone or in combination with agonists to TLR2/1 or TLR5 was evaluated in cultures of equine PBMC. Exposure to the G3 adjuvant up-regulated genes encoding IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12p40 and IL-23p19 in the majority of the horses tested, indicating that the G3 adjuvant induced a pro-inflammatory and Th1 dominated profile. In accordance, genes encoding IL-13, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β remained unaffected and genes encoding IFN-α, IL-17A and TNF-α were only occasionally and weakly induced. The two TLR agonists Pam3CSK4 (TLR2/1) an...
Halldorsdottir S, Larsen HJ, Mehl R.Twenty-three Icelandic horses were challenged with extracts of four species of biting midges: Culicoides pulicaris, C chiopterus, C obsoletus and C impunctatus. Fourteen of the tested horses were affected with summer eczema. The horses were challenged intradermally with 0.1 ml of whole-body extracts of midges at a concentration of 0.01 or 0.005 per cent weight/volume. The skin reactions were measured after 30 minutes, 60 or 180 minutes and four, 24 and 48 hours after injection. Antigen titration showed that the reaction was dependent on the antigen concentration. Eight of nine unaffected horse...
Jemmerson R.To gain a better understanding of the diversity of epitopes on a protein, the specificities of 103 monoclonal antibodies to a model antigen, horse cytochrome c(cyt c), were analyzed. The antibodies were generated in in vitro monoclonal, secondary antibody responses against horse cyt c coupled to hemocyanin in splenic fragment cultures. For this assay, horse cyt c-primed murine B lymphocytes were transferred to irradiated, hemocyanin-primed recipients. A panel of seven mammalian cyts c differing at one to six residues out of 104 and cyanogen bromide-cleaved fragments of horse cyt c containing r...
Rosa GDS, Krieck AMT, Padula ET, Stievani FC, Rossi MC, Pfeifer JPH, Basso RM, Braz AMM, Golim MA, Alves ALG.Allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are widely used in clinical routine due to the shorter expansion time and reliability of its quality. However, some recipients can produce alloantibodies that recognize MSCs and activate the immune system, resulting in cell death. Although antibody production was already described after MSC injection, no previous studies described the immune response after intra-articular MSC injection in acute synovitis. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of inflammation on immune response after single and repeated intra-articular injections of synovial membrane...
Jacks S, Giguère S.The objective of this pilot study was to compare the cytokine profile as well as cell-mediated and antibody responses of foals infected with a low inoculum of virulent Rhodococcus equi resulting in subclinical pneumonia to that of foals infected with a high inoculum resulting in severe clinical pneumonia. The mean (+/-SD) ratio of post-infection to pre-infection anti-R. equi IgG(T) concentration was significantly (P=0.002) higher in foals infected with the high inoculum (195+/-145; range 62-328) compared to foals infected with the low inoculum (3.9+/-4.5; range 0.5-11). Similarly, mean (+/-SD)...
Plummer CE, Polk T, Sharma J, Bae SS, Barr O, Jones A, Kitchen H, Wilhelmy M, Devin K, Clay Smith W, Kolaczkowski BD, Larkin J.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is a painful and debilitating autoimmune disease and represents the only spontaneous model of human recurrent uveitis (RU). Despite the efficacy of existing treatments, RU remains a leading cause of visual handicap in horses and humans. Cytokines, which utilize Janus kinase 2 (Jak2) for signaling, drive the inflammatory processes in ERU that promote blindness. Notably, suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1), which naturally limits the activation of Jak2 through binding interactions, is often deficient in autoimmune disease patients. Significantly, we previous...
