The immune system in horses is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect the body from pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. This system includes both innate and adaptive immune responses, which function to identify and eliminate foreign invaders. The innate immune response provides an immediate, non-specific defense, while the adaptive immune response involves a more targeted and long-lasting protection through the production of antibodies. Key components of the equine immune system include white blood cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages, as well as various signaling molecules like cytokines. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the structure, function, and regulation of the immune system in horses, with an emphasis on understanding its role in maintaining equine health and its response to diseases.
Sano Y, Matsuda K, Okamoto M, Takehana K, Hirayama K, Taniyama H.Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the uveal tract participate in ocular immunity including immune homeostasis and the pathogenesis of uveitis. In horses, although uveitis is the most common ocular disorder, little is known about ocular immunity, such as the distribution of APCs. In this study, we investigated the distribution of CD163-positive and MHC II-positive cells in the normal equine uveal tract using an immunofluorescence technique. Eleven eyes from 10 Thoroughbred horses aged 1 to 24 years old were used. Indirect immunofluorescence was performed using the primary antibodies CD163, MHC...
Geisert RD.Establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in a number of mammalian species depends upon a tightly regulated interaction between the semiallogeneic conceptus and the maternal uterine endometrium.The term "Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy" is attributed to Roger V. Short's paper titled "Implantation and the Maternal Recognition of Pregnancy" which was published in proceedings from the 1969 Symposium on Foetal Autonomy.Professor Short's landmark paper stimulated increased interest in elucidating how the conceptus signals its presence to assure maintenance of the corpus luteum beyond the normal ...
Behrens NE, Gershwin LJ.Hypersensitivity reactions, such as hives or fatal anaphylactic shock, in response to vaccination constitute a health hazard for horses that develop allergies to vaccine components. In such horses vaccination with viral vaccines stimulates an IgE response to non-target antigens. Viral vaccines share contaminating non-target proteins, such as bovine serum albumin (BSA); these antigens can stimulate IgE production with each exposure. We hypothesized that the addition of a CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) administered in conjunction with a West Nile virus vaccine would decrease the IgE response; th...
Bergmann T, Moore C, Sidney J, Miller D, Tallmadge R, Harman RM, Oseroff C, Wriston A, Shabanowitz J, Hunt DF, Osterrieder N, Peters B, Antczak DF....Here we describe a detailed quantitative peptide-binding motif for the common equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) class I allele Eqca-1*00101, present in roughly 25 % of Thoroughbred horses. We determined a preliminary binding motif by sequencing endogenously bound ligands. Subsequently, a positional scanning combinatorial library (PSCL) was used to further characterize binding specificity and derive a quantitative motif involving aspartic acid in position 2 and hydrophobic residues at the C-terminus. Using this motif, we selected and tested 9- and 10-mer peptides derived from the equine herpesvir...
Beck C, Desprès P, Paulous S, Vanhomwegen J, Lowenski S, Nowotny N, Durand B, Garnier A, Blaise-Boisseau S, Guitton E, Yamanaka T, Zientara S....West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) are flaviviruses responsible for severe neuroinvasive infections in humans and horses. The confirmation of flavivirus infections is mostly based on rapid serological tests such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). These tests suffer from poor specificity, mainly due to antigenic cross-reactivity among flavivirus members. Robust diagnosis therefore needs to be validated through virus neutralisation tests (VNTs) which are time-consuming and require BSL3 facilities. The flavivirus envelop...
Wagner B, Goodman LB, Babasyan S, Freer H, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V, Björnsdóttir S, Perkins GA.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) continues to cause severe outbreaks of abortions or myeloencephalopathy in horses despite widely used vaccination. The aim of this work was to determine the effects of frequent vaccination with an inactivated EHV vaccine on immune development in horses. Fifteen EHV-1 naïve mares were vaccinated a total of 5 times over a period of 8 months with intervals of 20, 60, 90 and 60 days between vaccine administrations. Total antibody and antibody isotype responses were evaluated with a new sensitive EHV-1 Multiplex assay to glycoprotein C (gC) and gD for up to 14 mon...
Huang J, Zhao Y, Bai D, Shiraigol W, Li B, Yang L, Wu J, Bao W, Ren X, Jin B, Zhao Q, Li A, Bao S, Bao W, Xing Z, An A, Gao Y, Wei R, Bao Y, Bao T....The donkey, like the horse, is a promising model for exploring karyotypic instability. We report the de novo whole-genome assemblies of the donkey and the Asiatic wild ass. Our results reflect the distinct characteristics of donkeys, including more effective energy metabolism and better immunity than horses. The donkey shows a steady demographic trajectory. We detected abundant satellite sequences in some inactive centromere regions but not in neocentromere regions, while ribosomal RNAs frequently emerged in neocentromere regions but not in the obsolete centromere regions. Expanded miRNA famil...
Rashmir-Raven A, Lavagnino M, Sedlak A, Gardner K, Arnoczky S.Hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) is a genetic disorder of collagen resulting in fragile, hyper-extensible skin and ulcerative lesions. The predominance of skin lesions have been shown to occur on the dorsum of HERDA-affected horses. While this has been postulated to be due to increased exposure to sunlight of these areas, the precise pathological mechanism which causes this to occur is unclear. Objective: We hypothesized that an increase in collagenase activity, that has been associated with the exposure of dermal fibroblasts to sunlight, will significantly degrade the materi...
Meulenbroeks C, van der Meide NM, Willemse T, Rutten VP, Tijhaar E.Ponies may suffer from Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), an allergic IgE-mediated pruritic skin disorder, induced by allergens from biting midges of the Culicoides spp. Objective: To determine whether recombinant Culicoides obsoletus allergens are able to activate T cells of ponies exposed to C. obsoletus and whether these allergen-specific responses differ between IBH-affected and healthy ponies. Methods: Ten IBH-affected Shetland ponies and 10 age-matched healthy controls taken from the same stables, to ensure similar exposure to midges. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) w...
Pretorius A, Faber FE, van Kleef M.Development of African horsesickness (AHS) subunit vaccines will have to include a rational approach that uses knowledge of how the virus interacts with the host immune system. The global in vivo immune response induced by attenuated AHSV serotype 4 in horses was characterised using transcriptome sequencing. PBMC were collected with 24h intervals for four days after inoculation and four days after a second boost, 21 days later. Transcriptome data were normalised to the day 0 naïve transcriptome and up- or down-regulated immune genes identified using the CLC workbench. Peak expression was obse...
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. ...
Derochette S, Serteyn D, Mouithys-Mickalad A, Ceusters J, Deby-Dupont G, Neven P, Franck T.Excessive neutrophil stimulation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production are involved in numerous human or horse pathologies. The modulation of the neutrophil NADPH oxidase (NOX) has a great therapeutic potential since this enzyme produces superoxide anion whose most of the other ROS derive. The measurement of NOX activity by cell-free systems is often used to test potential inhibitors of the enzyme. A major drawback of this technique is the possible interferences between inhibitors and the probe, ferricytochrome c, used to measure the activity. We designed the "EquiNox2", a new pharmacol...
Vinther AM, Skovgaard K, Heegaard PM, Andersen PH.In horses, insights into the innate immune processes in acute systemic inflammation are limited even though these processes may be highly important for future diagnostic and therapeutic advances in high-mortality disease conditions as the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and sepsis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression of 31 selected blood leukocyte immune genes in an equine model of acute systemic inflammation to identify significantly regulated genes and to describe their expression dynamics during a 24-h experimental period. Systemic inflammation ...
Petersen MR, Skive B, Christoffersen M, Lu K, Nielsen JM, Troedsson MH, Bojesen AM.Endometritis in horses caused by Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) may be underdiagnosed due to traditional diagnostic methods lacking sensitivity and specificity. We serendipitously identified a bacterial growth medium (bActivate) that appeared capable of inducing growth of dormant S. zooepidemicus, which subsequently allowed detection by standard diagnostics. To assess the effect of bActivate we compared its ability to activate dormant S. zooepidemicus in a group of potentially infected subfertile mares with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). All mares had to test ...
Shrestha M, Eriksson S, Schurink A, Andersson LS, Sundquist M, Frey R, Broström H, Bergström T, Ducro B, Lindgren G.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is the most common allergic skin disease in horses and is caused by biting midges, mainly of the genus Culicoides. The disease predominantly comprises a type I hypersensitivity reaction, causing severe itching and discomfort that reduce the welfare and commercial value of the horse. It is a multifactorial disorder influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, with heritability ranging from 0.16 to 0.27 in various horse breeds. The worldwide prevalence in different horse breeds ranges from 3% to 60%; it is more than 50% in Icelandic horses exported to ...
Marth CD, Young ND, Glenton LY, Noden DM, Browning GF, Krekeler N.The physiological changes associated with the varying hormonal environment throughout the oestrous cycle are linked to the different functions the uterus needs to fulfil. The aim of the present study was to generate global gene expression profiles for the equine uterus during oestrus and Day 5 of dioestrus. To achieve this, samples were collected from five horses during oestrus (follicle >35 mm in diameter) and dioestrus (5 days after ovulation) and analysed using high-throughput RNA sequencing techniques (RNA-Seq). Differentially expressed genes between the two cycle stages were further inves...
Drebert Z, Golke A, Cymerys J, Słońska A, Chmielewska A, Tucholska A, Bańbura MW.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is a prevalent causative agent of equine diseases worldwide. After primary replication in the respiratory epithelium the virus disseminates systemically through a peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)-associated viraemia. EHV-1 is the only alphaherpes- virus known so far which is capable of establishing latent infection not only in neurons but also in immune system cells (mainly in lymphocytes and macrophages). Since leukocytes are not the target cells for viral replication but are used to transport EHV-1 to the internal organs, the questionremains how the v...
Tessier L, Bienzle D, Williams LB, Koch TG.Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have attracted interest for their cytotherapeutic potential, partly due to their immunomodulatory abilities. The aim of this study was to test the robustness of our equine cord blood (CB) MSC isolation protocol, to characterize the CB-MSC before and after cryopreservation, and to evaluate their immunosuppressive phenotype. We hypothesized that MSC can be consistently isolated from equine CB, have unique and reproducible marker expression and in vitro suppress lymphoproliferation. Preliminary investigation of constitutive cytoplasmic Toll-like recepto...
Meulenbroeks C, van der Lugt JJ, van der Meide NM, Willemse T, Rutten VP, Zaiss DM.The immunological mechanisms explaining development of an allergy in some individuals and not in others remain incompletely understood. Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a common, seasonal, IgE-mediated, pruritic skin disorder that affects considerable proportions of horses of different breeds, which is caused by bites of the insect Culicoides obsoletus (C. obsoletus). We investigated the allergen-specific immune status of individual horses that had either been diagnosed to be healthy or to suffer of IBH. Following intradermal allergen injection, skin biopsies were taken of IBH-affected an...
Remacha AR, Barrachina L, Álvarez-Arguedas S, Ranera B, Romero A, Vázquez FJ, Zaragoza P, Yañez R, Martín-Burriel I, Rodellar C.The immunomodulatory capacities of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have made them the subject of increased clinical interest for tissue regeneration and repair. We have studied the immunomodulatory capacity of equine MSCs derived from bone marrow (BM-MSCs) and adipose tissue (AT-MSCs) in cocultures with allogeneic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Different isoforms and concentrations of phytohaemaglutinin (PHA) were tested to determine the best stimulation conditions for PBMC proliferation and a proliferation assay was performed for 7 days to determine the optimal day of stimulation o...
Kravtsov AL.Compare the content of bactericidal granules (BG) in blood phagocytes of animals, that differ by species sensitivity to plague infection, under the conditions of measuring, that ensure automatic differentiating by this parameter of monocytes and granulocytes of human blood. Methods: Human whole blood leukocytes were studied, as well as from 7 animal species: mice, guinea pigs, golden hamsters, white rats, rabbits, dogs and horses. Acridine orange (AO) was used for supra-vital staining in primary (bactericidal) granule cells. Relative BG content was measured in separate cells in conventional un...
Hoffman CJ, McKenzie HC, Furr MO, Desrochers A.Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis occurs in horses with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Peripheral resistance to glucocorticoids has not been investigated in horses. Objective: To determine if glucocorticoid receptor (GR) function in horses can be measured using flow cytometry, and to use this information to evaluate HPA axis dynamics. Methods: Eleven healthy adult horses in parts 1 and 2. Ten horses with SIRS and 10 age and sex matched controls in part 3. Methods: Flow cytometry was used to evaluate GR density and binding affinity (BA) in 3 healthy...
Hamza E, Mirkovitch J, Steinbach F, Marti E.The immune system of mammals is subject to continuous development during the postnatal phase of life. Studies following the longitudinal development of the immune system in healthy children are limited both by ethical considerations and sample volumes. Horses represent a particular valuable large animal model for T regulatory (Treg) cells and allergy research. We have recently characterised Treg cells from horses, demonstrated their regulatory capability and showed both their expansion and induction in vitro. Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a common allergy in horses resembling atopic de...
Minguet G, Franck T, Joris J, Ceusters J, Mouithys-Mickalad A, Serteyn D, Sandersen C.Volatile anaesthestics have shown to modulate the oxidative response of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). We investigated the effects of isoflurane and sevoflurane on the degranulation of total and active myeloperoxidase (MPO) from horse PMNs and their direct interaction with MPO activity. Whole blood from horse was incubated in 1 and 2 minimal alveolar concentrations (MAC) of isoflurane or sevoflurane for 1h and PMNs were stimulated with cytochalasin B (CB) plus N-formyl-méthionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). After stimulation, the plasma was collected to measure total and active MPO by ...
Scheel TK, Kapoor A, Nishiuchi E, Brock KV, Yu Y, Andrus L, Gu M, Renshaw RW, Dubovi EJ, McDonough SP, Van de Walle GR, Lipkin WI, Divers TJ....Nonprimate hepacivirus (NPHV) is the closest known relative of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and its study could enrich our understanding of HCV evolution, immunity, and pathogenesis. High seropositivity is found in horses worldwide with ∼ 3% viremic. NPHV natural history and molecular virology remain largely unexplored, however. Here, we show that NPHV, like HCV, can cause persistent infection for over a decade, with high titers and negative strand RNA in the liver. NPHV is a near-universal contaminant of commercial horse sera for cell culture. The complete NPHV 3'-UTR was determined and consists...
Valle E, Zanatta R, Odetti P, Traverso N, Furfaro A, Bergero D, Badino P, Girardi C, Miniscalco B, Bergagna S, Tarantola M, Intorre L, Odore R.The aim of the study was to evaluate markers of the acute phase response (APR) in eventing horses by measuring acute phase proteins (APP) (haptoglobin, Hp, and serum amyloid A, SAA), lysozyme, protein adducts such as pentosidine-like adducts (PENT), malondialdehyde adducts (MDA), hydroxynonenal adducts (HNE) and total advanced glycation/glycoxidation end products (AGEs), complete blood count and lymphocyte subpopulations (CD4+, CD8+ and CD21+) both at rest and at the end of an eventing competition. Blood samples were collected from eight Warmblood horses (medium age 10 ± 3) during an offici...
Frellstedt L, Gosset P, Kervoaze G, Hans A, Desmet C, Pirottin D, Bureau F, Lekeux P, Art T.Respiratory diseases, including inflammatory airway disease (IAD), viral and bacterial infections, are common problems in exercising horses. The airway epithelium constitutes a major physical barrier against airborne infections and plays an essential role in the lung innate immune response mainly through toll-like receptor (TLR) activation. The aim of this study was to develop a model for the culture of equine bronchial epithelial cells (EBEC) in vitro and to explore EBEC innate immune responses in trained horses. Bronchial epithelial biopsies were taken from 6 adult horses during lower airway...
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...
Edwards JF.A review of the pathologic conditions of the stallion reproductive tract is presented. The stallion has a number of lesions similar to those of other male domestic species but also has several unique to the horse. Some are diagnosed infrequently now because of new disease control measures and new husbandry practices. Modern immunostaining and molecular techniques should be applied to better characterize pathologic conditions in the stallion.
Borchers K, Thein R, Sterner-Kock A.In recent years, outbreaks of equine herpesvirus-associated
neurological disease (EAND) have been reported with increasing
frequency and severity (Thein et al. 1993; McCartan et al. 1995;
Friday et al. 2000; van Maanen et al. 2001; Stierstorfer et al.
2002; Cardwell et al. 2003; Studdert et al. 2003). Despite
40 years of worldwide research, EAND cannot be adequately
prevented or fully explained. Improvement in diagnosis and
detailed genetic characterisation of equine herpesvirus (EHV)
strains prompted us to re-evaluate EHV-associated neurological
diseases from epizootiological, pathol...
The Journal of urologyDecember 1, 1986
Volume 136, Issue 6 1314-1315 doi: 10.1016/s0022-5347(17)45327-4
Wheeler JS, Culkin DJ, O'Connell J, Winters G.The immunocompromised patient after organ transplantation is susceptible to unusual and life-threatening infections. We report a case of epididymitis that evolved into testicular nocardiosis after cardiac transplantation. An awareness of the potential for these infections and early diagnosis may prevent extensive morbidity in the post-transplantation patient.
Kalsow CM, Dwyer AE.Equine uveitis is a spontaneous disorder of horses that can serve as a model for the study of human uveitis. Although the initial presentation is that of an anterior uveitis, retinal involvement has been noted in some cases. We report here the immunohistopathology of retinas from horses with uveitis. Methods: Sections of eyes recovered from horses with naturally occurring uveitis and from Shetland ponies with experimental leptospira-induced uveitis were stained by hematoxylin and eosin for histopathological evaluation. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate retinas for MHC Class II antigen ...
Haythorn A, Young M, Stanton J, Zhang J, Mueller POE, Halper J.Equine degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) is a systemic connective tissue disorder first identified in Peruvian Paso horses but afflicting other horse breeds as well. Inappropriate accumulation of proteoglycans in connective tissues, most prominently in tendons and ligaments, leads to progressive and debilitating lameness and pain. It is largely unknown what drives the overproduction of proteoglycans, but our previous studies suggest involvement of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2), a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) family, impacting synthesis of proteoglyca...
Sriprapat S, Aeksowan S, Sapsutthipas S, Chotwiwatthanakun C, Suttijitpaisal P, Pratanaphon R, Khow O, Sitprija V, Ratanabanangkoon K.Therapeutic antivenom against snakes was first produced by Albert Calmette in 1894. Since then antivenoms have saved the life of countless snakebite victims. However, there are still many problems associated with antivenom production, for example variable percentage of responder horses, low neutralizing potency of antivenom, the large amount of snake venom needed for immunization and the difficulties encountered in producing potent polyvalent antivenoms. These problems have led to shortage and high cost of antivenom and, in some cases, failure of treatment. In 1997, a new immunization protocol...
Nakamura T, Amikawa S, Harada T, Saito T, Arai I, Urashima T.The colostrum of horses (thoroughbreds) was extracted and fractionated to yield Gal(beta1-4)GlcNAcalpha1-phosphate, which has not previously been detected in any mammalian milk or colostrum, as well as Neu5Ac(alpha2-3)Gal(beta1-4)Glc. The structures of these saccharides were established by NMR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.
Tabynov K, Kydyrbayev Zh, Ryskeldinova Sh, Assanzhanova N, Sansyzbay A.We previously created a live vaccine against equine influenza based the new reassortant cold-adapted (Ca) strain A/HK/Otar/6:2/2010. The live vaccine contains surface proteins (HA, NA) from the wild-type virus A/equine/Otar/764/2007 (Н3N8; American Lineage Florida Clade 2), and internal proteins (PB2, PB1, PA, NP, M, NS) from the attenuated Ca donor virus A/Hong Kong/1/68/162/35CA (H3N2). To determine the safety and duration of the protective immune responses, 90 yearlings were intranasally vaccinated in single mode, double mode at an interval of 42 days (10(7.0) EID50/animal for both vaccina...
Hart KA, Barton MH, Vandenplas ML, Hurley DJ.Low-dose hydrocortisone (LDHC) therapy modulates inflammatory responses in adults and improves outcomes in some septic adults and neonates, but its immunologic effects have not been evaluated in neonates. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of LDHC therapy on ex vivo immune function in neonatal horses (foals). We hypothesized that LDHC treatment would dampen proinflammatory responses without impairing neutrophil function. Hydrocortisone (1.3 mg/kg/d i.v.) was administered to foals in a tapering 3.5 d course. Peripheral blood leukocytes were collected from foals before, during, ...
Kammerer R, Ballesteros A, Bonsor D, Warren J, Williams JM, Moore T, Dveksler G.In early equine pregnancy, a highly invasive trophoblast cell subpopulation, the chorionic girdle cells, invade the endometrium and form endometrial cups (EC). These cells express classical MHC molecules, thereby stimulating a humoral and cellular immune response, resulting in a massive accumulation of maternal CD4+ and CD8+ T cells around the EC. Nevertheless, no immediate destruction of endometrial cups by maternal lymphoid cells occurs, presumably due to immune tolerance. Although the environment of EC is rich in TGFB and in FOXP3+, CD4+ T cells, the mechanisms leading to tolerance have not...
Felsburg PJ, Somberg RL, Perryman LE.This review describes the clinical, immunologic and pathologic features of two naturally-occurring models of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in domestic animals that represent different forms of human SCID. Canine X-linked SCID (XSCID) has an X-linked recessive mode of inheritance and, as such, represents a model for the most common form of human SCID in the United States. Affected dogs have normal percentages of circulating B cells and low to normal percentages of phenotypically mature, but nonfunctional T cells. Severe combined immunodeficiency in the horse is an autosomal recessive ...
Horohov DW, Dimock A, Guirnalda P, Folsom RW, McKeever KH, Malinowski K.To compare exercise-induced immune modulation in young and older horses. Methods: 6 young and 6 aged horses that were vaccinated against equine influenza virus. Methods: Venous blood samples were collected for immunologic assessment before and immediately after exercise at targeted heart rates and after exercise for determination of plasma lactate and cortisol concentrations. Mononuclear cells were assayed for lymphoproliferative responses and incubated with interleukin-2 (IL-2) to induce lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. Antibodies to equine influenza virus were measured. Results: Olde...
Tan R, Hodge A, Klein R, Edwards N, Huang JA, Middleton D, Watts SP.To determine the antibody responses to a commercial Hendra virus vaccine (Equivac® HeV) in a field environment. Methods: A group of 61 horses received a primary vaccination course comprising two doses administered 3-6 weeks apart (V1, V2) and a 3rd dose (V3) given 6 months after the second. This was followed by booster vaccinations at 12 monthly intervals (V4, V5). Antibody titres were assessed using a virus-neutralisation test. Results: Neutralising antibodies against HeV were not detected prior to vaccination. Antibodies were detected in 54/57 horses at 3 weeks after V1 and 51/51 had ...
Anton F, Morales C, Aguilar R, Bellido C, Aguilar E, Gaytán F.The existence of a physiological integration between the immune and endocrine systems has long been recognized. In spite of the abundant literature data on the presence of cells of the immune system in the testis, mast cells and eosinophil leukocytes have received little attention. We have studied the presence, distribution and numbers of mast cells and eosinophils in the testes of 12 mammalian species. Mast cells were frequently found in equine (stallion, ass and mule) and human testis, whereas eosinophils were nearly absent. On the contrary, eosinophils were abundant in the hare testis, whil...
Harris SP, Hines MT, Mealey RH, Alperin DC, Hines SA.Rhodococcus equi is an important respiratory pathogen of young foals for which a vaccine has long been sought. Two major impediments to effective vaccination are the functionally immature type I immune responses of neonatal foals and early exposure to the bacterium via the environment. Despite these obstacles, it appears that under specific circumstances foals can develop a protective immune response. In this study we investigated the protective mechanisms behind oral inoculation of foals with virulent R. equi bacteria. Two foals receiving an oral inoculum demonstrated accelerated development ...
Amaral A, Fernandes C, Rebordão MR, Szóstek-Mioduchowska A, Lukasik K, Pinto-Bravo P, Telo da Gama L, Jan Skarzynski D, Ferreira-Dias G.Neutrophils can originate neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a peroxidase found in NETs associated to equine endometrosis and can be inhibited by 4-aminobenzoic acid hydrazide (ABAH). Metallopeptidases (MMPs) participate in extracellular matrix stability and fibrosis development. The objectives of this in vitro work were to investigate, in explants of mare's endometrium, (i) the ABAH capacity to inhibit MPO-induced collagen type I (COL1) expression; and (ii) the action of MPO and ABAH on the expression and gelatinolytic activity of MMP-2/-9. Explants retrieved from...
Karagianni AE, Kurian D, Cillán-Garcia E, Eaton SL, Wishart TM, Pirie RS.Neutrophilic airway inflammation is highly prevalent in racehorses in training, with the term mild to moderate equine asthma (MMEA) being applied to the majority of such cases. Our proposed study is largely derived from the strong association between MMEA in racehorses and their entry into a race training program. The objectives of this study are to characterise the effect of training on the local pulmonary immune system by defining the gene and protein expression of tracheal wash (TW) derived samples from Thoroughbred racehorses prior to and following commencement of race training. Multiomics...
Mérant C, Breathnach CC, Kohler K, Rashid C, Van Meter P, Horohov DW.Newborn foals are very susceptible to infections by opportunistic pathogens such as Rhodococcus equi. This susceptibility is thought to be due to the immaturity of their immune system, in particular their inability to produce interferon-gamma. This deficiency may result from an insufficiency in accessory signals. We therefore compared monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDC) from foals and from adult horses. CD172, MHC-I and MHC-II were generally expressed on more than 90% MoDC from foals and adults. CD1w2(+)CD86(+) cells tended to be less represented in 2-3-week-old foals than in adults. This ...
Paillot R, Garrett D, Lopez-Alvarez MR, Birand I, Montesso F, Horspool L.Vaccination is one of the most effective tools for limiting the impact of equine influenza (EI). The humoral immunity established following a primary vaccination course can decrease significantly between the second (V2) and third immunisations (V3), leaving some horses insufficiently protected for several weeks. This so-called "immunity gap" poses a challenge to all EI vaccines. During this period, the EI infection of vaccinated animals may be followed by marked clinical signs and virus shedding. However, several EI vaccines have been shown to stimulate equine influenza virus (EIV)-specific ce...
Vychodilova L, Matiasovic J, Bobrova O, Futas J, Klumplerova M, Stejskalova K, Cvanova M, Janova E, Osickova J, Vyskocil M, Sedlinska M, Dusek L....Equine insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a seasonal IgE-mediated dermatosis caused by bites of insects of the genus Culicoides. A familial predisposition for the disease has been shown but, except for the MHC, the genes involved have not been identified so far. An immunogenomic analysis of IBH was performed in a model population of Old Kladruby horses, all living in the same environment. Clinical signs of IBH were used as phenotypic manifestation of IBH. Furthermore, total serum IgE levels were determined in the sera of these horses and used as an independent phenotypic marker for the immu...
Lawler DF, Hopkins J, Watson ED.Recent evidence indicates that the cells of the immune system and their large network of secretory products, or cytokines, play an active role in the ovary throughout the oestrous cycle. In the present study, immune cell populations (T and B lymphocytes, macrophages, granulocytes and eosinophils) and expression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II were investigated in corpora lutea from mares in early (days 2-4), mid- (days 7-10) and late (days 12-14) dioestrus, the post-luteolytic phase (days 16-17) and early pregnancy. The number of T lymphocytes within the corpus luteum increa...
Ma J, Jiang C, Lin Y, Wang X, Zhao L, Xiang W, Shao Y, Shen R, Kong X, Zhou J.To study the in vivo evolution of the attenuated Chinese equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine, viral gp90 gene variation and virus replication in immunosuppressed hosts were investigated. The results showed that after vaccination, the gp90 gene followed an evolutionary trend of declining diversity. The trend coincided with the maturation of immunity to EIAV, and eventually, the gp90 gene became highly homologous. The sequences of these predominant quasispecies were consistently detected up to 18 months after vaccination. Furthermore, after transient immune suppression with dexamethaso...
Vychodilova-Krenkova L, Matiasovic J, Horin P.The objective of this study was to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within four functionally related immune response genes in the horse, and to develop genotyping techniques that could be useful for future genomic studies of horse infectious and allergic diseases. The genes analysed were: the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor gene CD14, the toll-like receptor 4 gene TLR4, the gene Cepsilon encoding the IgE heavy chain molecule and the gene FcepsilonR1 alpha coding for the alpha subunit of the IgE receptor molecule. Horse-specific primers amplifying selected gene regions were des...
Durward-Akhurst SA, Valberg SJ.In horses, immune-mediated muscle disorders can arise from an overzealous immune response to concurrent infections or potentially from an inherent immune response to host muscle antigens. Streptococcus equi ss. equi infection or vaccination can result in infarctive purpura hemorrhagica (IPH) in which vascular deposition of IgA-streptococcal M protein complexes produces ischemia and complete focal infarction of skeletal muscle and internal organs. In Quarter Horse-related breeds with immune-mediated myositis, an apparent abnormal immune response to muscle antigens results in upregulation of maj...
Chong YC, Duffus WP.Four foals were raised under specific pathogen free (SPF) conditions. At 3 to 4 months of age, SPF foals and 1 other non-SPF foal were intranasally inoculated with equine herpes virus type 1 (EHV-1). Clinical signs included depression, fever, inappetence and intermittent coughing. Clinical recovery was complete by seven days but high titres of virus were detected in nasal mucus for at least 10 days after inoculation. Clinical illness was less severe in the non-SPF foal. Interferon was detected in the nasal mucus of all foals from 2 days post infection (dpi), persisting until 8 or 10 dpi. ELISA...
Mainguy-Seers S, Vargas A, Labrecque O, Bédard C, Hélie P, Lavoie JP.Neutrophilic inflammation is believed to contribute to the airway obstruction and remodelling in equine asthma. Azithromycin, an antibiotic with immunomodulatory properties, reduces pulmonary neutrophilia and hyper-responsiveness in human asthmatics and decreases airway remodelling in rodent models of asthma. It was therefore hypothesised that azithromycin would improve lung function, mucus accumulation and central airway remodelling by decreasing luminal neutrophilia in severe equine asthma. The effects of a 10-day treatment with either azithromycin or ceftiofur, an antimicrobial without immu...
Zhang W, Auyong DB, Oaks JL, McGuire TC.Two defined cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes from equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-infected horses, equine leukocyte alloantigen (ELA)-A5.1-restricted epitope 18a, and ELA-A9-restricted epitope 28b-1 were evaluated for conservation among three wild-type EIAV strains. Epitope 18a variation occurred in all three wild-type EIAV strains, while epitope 28b-1 varied in one strain. Further, 12% amino acid changes occurred in the Gag proteins of a recently isolated wild-type strain, documenting a much greater Gag protein variation than previously reported. Evaluation of epitope 18a among two...
Morris EA, McDonald BS, Webb AC, Rosenwasser LJ.Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is a protein secreted by stimulated cells of the monocyte-macrophage line, which has a number of important biologic activities. Interleukin-1 has been implicated in the induction and augmentation of the pathologic processes involved in arthritis and articular cartilage destruction. Horses develop osteoarthritis with a frequency and degree of severity similar to human beings. To further document the similarity of the osteoarthritic process in people and horses, the synovial fluid from 5 horses with clinical osteoarthritis was tested for IL-1 bioactivity. Interleukin-1 activ...
