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.
Elghandour MMMY, Maggiolino A, García EIC, Sánchez-Aparicio P, De Palo P, Ponce-Covarrubias JL, Pliego AB, Salem AZM.This review examines the available data regarding the positive effects of microencapsulated essential oils (EOs) on the nutrition, metabolism, and possibly the methane emission of horses. A literature review was conducted on the effect of microencapsulated (EOs) on the health of horses. The information comprises articles published in recent years in indexed journals. The results indicate that mixtures of microencapsulated EOs may be beneficial to equine health due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, as well as their effects on enteric methane production, nutrient absorption, and i...
Boyle AG.Strangles, caused by the bacteria Streptococcus equi subsp equi, is a highly contagious disease of equids classically characterized by a high fever and enlarged lymph nodes of the head. Diagnostic sampling depends on the stage of the disease. The goal of treating strangles is to control transmission and to eliminate infection while providing future host immunity. Daily temperature checking and isolation of febrile horses is the key to controlling outbreaks. Eradication of this disease will not be possible until S equi carriers are eliminated from the equine population.
Parrilla Hernández S, Franck T, Munaut C, Feyereisen É, Piret J, Farnir F, Reigner F, Barrière P, Deleuze S.Myeloperoxidase (MPO), as a marker of neutrophil activation, has been associated with equine endometritis. However, in absence of inflammation, MPO is constantly detected in the uterine lumen of estrous mares. The aim of this study was to characterize MPO in the uterus of mares under physiological conditions as a first step to better understand the role of this enzyme in equine reproduction. Total and active MPO concentrations were determined, by ELISA and SIEFED assay, respectively, in low-volume lavages from mares in estrus ( = 26), diestrus ( = 18) and anestrus ( = 8) in absence of endometr...
Turner S, Knych HK, Adams AA.Cannabidiol (CBD) has potential to reduce pain and inflammation in humans leading to the interest of use in equine. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of CBD on immune function by measuring inflammatory cytokines and antibody responses to vaccination, as well as other health parameters in senior horses. Horses were orally-dosed with CBD (2 mg/kg: 13 horses) or control (soy oil: 14 horses) daily for 90 days, from July 2021 to November 2021. Peripheral blood samples were collected on days 0, 30, 60, and 90 before administering treatments. On day 90 all horses were kept on tr...
Zapf AM, Fey K, Büttner K, Gröf M, Staszyk C.Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) and dental disorders are of major concern in horses older than 15 years. Although PPID in geriatric horses and dental disorders in all age groups are well described, a connection between this endocrine disease and pathological changes in equine dental structures has not yet been investigated. In humans, periodontitis is considered to be a complication of systemic diseases like diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity and various conditions leading to an impaired immune response. In PPID, cross links to insulin and immune dysregulations are proven. The aim ...
Wilson J, De Donato M, Appelbaum B, Garcia CT, Peters S.Overtraining syndrome (OTS) is the reduction in performance due to excess training and lack of proper recovery, which can lead to a chronic deprivation of energy and reduction in the repair of damage that can accumulate over time. Here, the effect of acute, intense physical exercise on the expression of innate and adaptive immune genes in 12 racing-bred American Quarter Horses, after resting for 3 days and immediately after intense exercise for 1.8 miles were compared. The expression of 84 genes related to innate and adaptive immune responses was analyzed. Significant variation among individua...
DeNotta S, McFarlane D.The equine population in the United States and worldwide now includes a higher percentage of geriatric horses than ever previously recorded, and as methods to treat and manage elderly equids are developed and refined, this aging population will likely continue to expand. A better understanding of how horses age and the effect of age on immunity and disease susceptibility is needed to enable targeted preventative healthcare strategies for aged horses. This review article outlines the current state of knowledge regarding the effect of aging on immunity, vaccine responsiveness, and disease risk i...
Balena V, Pradhan SS, Bera BC, Anand T, Sansanwal R, Khetmalis R, Madhwal A, Bernela M, Supriya K, Pavulraj S, Tripathi BN, Virmani N.Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection causes significant health problems in equines. The EHV-1 infection leads to abortion storm in mares, respiratory disease and myeloencephalopathy. Despite the wide use of vaccines, the outbreaks of EHV-1 infections keep occurring globally, suggesting the need for the development of improved vaccines. Gene deletion attenuated mutant viruses could be a good candidate for the development of modified live vaccines. Here, we report the generation of mutant EHV-1 by deleting virulence (glycoprotein E & internal repeat 6; IR6) and immune evasive (pUL43 &a...
Mattei D, Fenn MS, Caraguel C, Vinardell T.The characterization of the blood groups, antibody profiles, and its distribution pattern among different horse breeds and geographic locations, can be very useful in life-threatening situations where a blood transfusion is needed, and compatibility tests are not readily available. This study estimated the distribution of blood types and antibody profiles in Straight Egyptian Arabian horses from Qatar. A total of 20 Straight Egyptian Arabian horses, from multiple origins and genetic background were included. Venous blood from each horse was typed and screened for anti-red blood cell (RBC) hemo...
Yu F, Chen Y, Liu B, Wang T, Ding Z, Yi Z, Zhu Y, Li J.Health monitoring is critical for newborn animals due to their vulnerability to diseases. Urine can be not only a useful and non-invasive tool (free-catch samples) to reflect the physiological status of animals but also to help monitor the progression of diseases. Proteomics involves the study of the whole complement of proteins and peptides, including structure, quantities, functions, variations and interactions. In this study, urinary proteomics of neonatal donkeys were characterized and compared to the profiles of adult donkeys to provide a reference database for healthy neonatal donkeys. T...
In this study, a new sandwich-type immunoenzymatic assay, based on a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as an artificial antibody (pseudo-ELISA), was developed for the determination of procalcitonin (PCT) in veterinary species. The quantification of PCT in human medicine represents the state of the art for the diagnosis of sepsis; instead the clinical studies on the relevance of PCT as a sepsis predictor in veterinary patients are few, likely due to the total absence of validated assays. MIPs have been widely used as antibody mimics for important applications, and MIP-based sandwich assays ha...
Wagner GE, Berner A, Lipp M, Kohler C, Assig K, Lichtenegger S, Saqib M, Müller E, Trinh TT, Gad AM, Söffing HH, Ehricht R, Laroucau K, Steinmetz I.Burkholderia mallei, the causative agent of glanders, is a clonal descendant of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, which has lost its environmental reservoir and has a restricted host range. Despite limitations in terms of sensitivity and specificity, complement fixation is still the official diagnostic test for glanders. Therefore, new tools are needed for diagnostics and to study the B. mallei epidemiology. We recently developed a highly sensitive serodiagnostic microarray test for human melioidosis based on the multiplex detection of B. pseudomallei proteins. In ...
Chaucheyras-Durand F, Sacy A, Karges K, Apper E.Horses are large non-ruminant herbivores and rely on microbial fermentation for energy, with more than half of their maintenance energy requirement coming from microbial fermentation occurring in their enlarged caecum and colon. To achieve that, the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of horses harbors a broad range of various microorganisms, differing in each GIT segment, which are essential for efficient utilization of feed, especially to use nutrients that are not or little degraded by endogenous enzymes. In addition, like in other animal species, the GIT microbiota is in permanent interplay with...
Paulino PG, Peckle M, Mendonça LP, Massard CL, Antunes S, Couto J, Domingos A, Guedes Junior DDS, Cabezas-Cruz A, Santos HA. is the only tick species known to serve as a biological vector of for horses and other equids in Brazil. The protozoan is one of the causal agents of equine piroplasmosis, a major threat in horse breeding systems. Vector competence is closely linked to the pathogens' ability to evade tick defense mechanisms. However, knowledge of tick immune response against infections by hemoparasites of the genus is scarce. In the present study, the expression of genes involved in immune signaling pathways of adults' guts when challenged with a high or low parasitic load of was evaluated. This research...
Sobral GG, Gomes Neto OC, Carneiro GF.The objective of this study was to determine whether supplementation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae or β-glucan, in the maternal diet during late pregnancy affects the concentration of total IgG in the colostrum of mares and influences the concentration of IgG in its foals. A total of 21 pregnant mares were used, aged 6±2 years, 3±1 pregnancies, 450±50kg in weight, and they were distributed into three groups: the control group (n=7); the S. cerevisiae group (n=7), which received 10CFU of S. cerevisiae orally; and the β-glucan group (n=7), which received 0.35g of β-glucan orally. All group...
Jaworska J, de Mestre AM, Wiśniewska J, Wagner B, Nowicki A, Kowalczyk-Zięba I, Wocławek-Potocka I.Endometrial immune cells are essential to support uterine functions across the estrous cycle and in preparation for pregnancy. It has been acknowledged that changes in phenotype and/or numbers of lymphocytes, such as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and NK cells, might result in lower fertility in women and mice. Little is known about equine endometrial immune cells across the estrous cycle. Here, we compared the populations of endometrial Tregs and NK cells in estrus and diestrus in mares. Endometrial biopsy and blood samples were taken in estrus and diestrus from 11 mares ages 4-12 years. Flow cyt...
Thompson MA, McCann BE, Simmons RB, Rhen T.Contraceptive vaccines are used to reduce birth rates in wild and feral animal populations. While the immunocontraceptive GonaCon-Equine has proven effective in reducing fertility among female feral horses, there is individual variation in the duration of infertility following treatment. To identify genetic factors influencing the effectiveness of GonaCon-Equine, we conducted a genome-wide association study of 88 mares from a feral population genotyped using the Illumina GGP Equine 70k SNP array. Contraceptive treatment schedules and long-term foaling rates have been recorded for each individu...
Li Y, Ma Q, Shi X, Liu G, Wang C.Evidence has shown that gut microbiota play a key role in host metabolism and health; however, little is known about the microbial community in the donkey hindgut as well as the interactions that occur between gut microbes and the host. This study aimed to explore the gut microbiome differences by analyzing the microbial community and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to lipid metabolism and the immune system along the donkey hindgut. The hindgut tissues (cecum, ventral colon, and dorsal colon) were separated, and the contents of each section were collected from six male donkeys fo...
Pezzanite LM, Chow L, Strumpf A, Johnson V, Dow SW.Antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation both present challenges to treatment of bacterial infections with conventional antibiotic therapy and serve as the impetus for development of improved therapeutic approaches. Mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy exerts an antimicrobial effect as demonstrated in multiple acute bacterial infection models. This effect can be enhanced by pre-conditioning the MSC with Toll or Nod-like receptor stimulation, termed activated cellular therapy (ACT). The purpose of this review is to summarize the current literature on mechanisms of antimicrobial activity...
AbdelKhalek A, Ostafe R, Olave C, HogenEsch H, Turner JW.Immunization with porcine zona pellucida (PZP) proteins is being used successfully to induce infertility in wildlife including horses. However, widespread adoption of this method to control the growth of horse populations requires further refinement in order to induce long-term infertility, reduce the frequency and severity of injection site reactions, and make the vaccines easier to administer. The next generation of PZP-based vaccines will likely be a controlled-release formulation with different adjuvants from the Freund's adjuvants used in existing vaccines. We evaluated the response of eq...
Cequier A, Vázquez FJ, Romero A, Vitoria A, Bernad E, García-Martínez M, Gascón I, Barrachina L, Rodellar C.The immunomodulatory properties of equine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are important for their therapeutic potential and for their facilitating role in their escape from immune recognition, which may also be influenced by donor-recipient major histocompatibility complex (MHC) matching/mismatching and MHC expression level. Factors such as inflammation can modify the balance between regulatory and immunogenic profiles of equine MSCs, but little is known about how the exposure to the immune system can affect these properties in equine MSCs. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression and secr...
Padjasek M, Qasem B, Cisło-Pakuluk A, Marycz K.Cyclosporine A (CsA) is a selective and reversible immunosuppressant agent that is widely used as a medication for a wide spectrum of diseases in humans such as graft versus host disease, non-infectious uveitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis. Furthermore, the CsA is used to treat keratoconjunctivitis sicca, chronic superficial keratitis, immune-mediated keratitis and equine recurrent uveitis in animals. The selective activity of Cyclosporine A (CsA) was demonstrated to be an immunomodulation characteristic of T-lymphocyte proliferation and inhibits cytokine gene expres...
Espinoza-Duarte MR, Ortega-Ochoa C, Baca-Ramirez A, Possani LD, Espino-Solis GP.Horses have played a prominent role in shaping our modern world, with important effects on health. Unfortunately, better characterization of the horse immune system is still needed. In this report, using flow cytometry techniques, four monoclonal antibodies against horse CD11c integrin were characterized and described for their ability to provide a positive recognition signal in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Further immune cell phenotype experiments were performed using MHC-II, CD14, TLR4 and the specific anti-horse CD11c monoclonal antibody (1C4). With this staining panel, it was possib...
Faber E, Tshilwane SI, Van Kleef M, Pretorius A.Transcriptome analysis was used to characterise the in vitro primary and secondary immune responses induced in horse peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated for 24 h with the individual recombinant proteins of a virulent AHSV serotype 4 (AHSV4) field isolate (rAHSV4 proteins) that were previously expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The results showed that the E. coli contamination products greatly affected the innate and humoral immune response transcripts. Hence, the impact of E. coli contamination products present in the individual rAHSV4 proteins on the translational immu...
Ghaeli T, Karimi B, Kojouri GA, Dehkordi RR, Ahadi AM.One of the initial responses of the host's innate immunity of newborns against pathogens is the use of oxidative enzymes. This study aimed to evaluate changes in serum xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) activity, the leukocyte myeloperoxidase (MPO) and XOR genes expression, and some biochemical parameters in healthy Darehshuri newborn foals up to 60 days of life. Blood samples were collected from 16 foals at 1, 7, 15, 30, and 60 days and used for detecting XOR activity, biochemical parameters, and also gene expression by real-time RT-PCR. High activity of XOR was observed at birth, explained by phy...
Anna M, Łukasz M, Adam O, Chełmońska-Soyta A.The aim of the study was to investigate the mechanisms leading to immunization through the use of a multicomponent bacterial immunomodulator and to find out the relationship between the TLR 4 receptor with selected parameters of innate immunity and to acquire immunity. The study was conducted on 18 Polish Pony Horses foals divided into two study groups: control (n = 9) and experimental (n = 9). Foals from the experimental group received intramuscular duplicate injection of 5 ml of multi-component bacterial immunomodular at 35 and 40 days of age. RNA isolated from venous blood was use...
Jakop U, Hensel B, Czirják GÁ, Quirino M, Schröter F, Jung M, Schulze M.During insemination, bacterial contamination of the ejaculate can lead to reduced sperm quality and transmission of pathogens to the female, thus should be avoided. The semen of a variety of animal taxa possess antimicrobial properties against a wide range of bacterial species through antimicrobial molecules, such as lysozyme, but their variance and the factors influencing it are unknown for most species. In this study, the antibacterial defence (bacterial killing activity (BKA) against Escherichia (E.) coli and Staphylococcus (S.) aureus as well as lysozyme concentration) was studied in semin...
Rudolf Vegas A, Hamdi M, Podico G, Bollwein H, Fröhlich T, Canisso IF, Bauersachs S, Almiñana C.In contrast to other domestic mammals, the embryo-derived signal(s) leading to maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) are still unknow in the mare. We hypothesize that these embryonic signals could be packed into uterine extracellular vesicles (uEVs), acting as multi-signal messengers between the conceptus and the maternal tract, and contributing to MRP. To unveil these signals, the RNA and protein cargos of uEVs isolated from uterine lavages collected from pregnant mares (P; day 10, 11, 12 and 13 after ovulation) and cyclic control mares (C; day 10 and 13 after ovulation) were analyzed. Our ...
Bao W, Yu J, He Y, Liu M, Yang X.The intestinal flora has a variety of physiological functions involved in the regulation of host metabolism, immunity and endocrinology, and plays an important role in maintaining the health of the host. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing technology to analyze the intestinal bacterial diversity and their gene functions in three equine species of the genus Shetland Pony (SP), Mongolian Wild Ass (MA), and Plain Zebra (PZ) in captivity in two wildlife parks in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The results showed that only the SP intestinal bacterial abundance index (Chao1) w...
Bigler NA, Bruckmaier RM, Gross JJ.Maternal care is essential to optimally support survival of the offspring. During evolution of mammalian species, different phenotypes have evolved in relation to gestation length, number, size, and maturation stage of the offspring at parturition, as well as colostrum and milk composition. The aim of the present review is to describe relationships between placental function and colostrum and milk composition in different mammalian species. Species covered in this article include humans, rabbits, rodents (rat and mouse), carnivores (cats and dogs), and a variety of ungulate species (cattle, sh...
Yang GC, Croaker D, Zhang AL, Manglick P, Cartmill T, Cass D.Lethal white foal syndrome (LWFS) is a congenital anomaly of horses characterized by a white coat colour and aganglionosis of the bowel, which is similar to Hirschsprung disease (HSCR). We decided to investigate possible mutations of the endothelin-B receptor gene ( EDNRB ) in LWFS as recent studies in mutant rodents and some patients have demonstrated EDNRB defects. First, we identified a full-length cDNA for horse EDNRB . This cDNA fragment contained a 1329 bp open reading frame which encoded 443 amino acid residues. The predicted amino acid sequence was 89, 91 and 85% identical to human, bo...
Rowland AL, Miller D, Berglund A, Schnabel LV, Levine GJ, Antczak DF, Watts AE.Allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been used clinically for decades, without cross-matching, on the assumption that they are immune-privileged. In the equine model, we demonstrate innate and adaptive immune responses after repeated intra-articular injection with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) mismatched allogeneic MSCs, but not MHC matched allogeneic or autologous MSCs. We document increased peri-articular edema and synovial effusion, increased synovial cytokine and chemokine concentrations, and development of donor-specific antibodies in mismatched recipients compared wi...
Ceusters J, Lejeune JP, Sandersen C, Niesten A, Lagneaux L, Serteyn D.Bone marrow and adipose tissue represent the two most commonly exploited sources of adult mesenchymal stem cells for musculoskeletal applications. Unfortunately the sampling of bone marrow and fat tissue is invasive and does not always lead to a sufficient number of cells. The present study describes a novel sampling method based on microbiopsy of skeletal muscle in man, pigs, dogs and horses. The process includes explant of the sample, Percoll density gradient for isolation and subsequent culture of the cells. We further characterized the cells and identified their clonogenic and immunomodula...
Deeg CA, Ehrenhofer M, Thurau SR, Reese S, Wildner G, Kaspers B.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) is the most serious eye disease in horses worldwide. Despite the fact that ERU is generally considered to be immune mediated, a detailed description of the histopathology of the posterior part of ERU eyes is lacking. Here, we examined sections of paraffin-embedded eyes using histological and immunhistological methods. Twenty seven eyes of 20 horses with ERU and 30 eyes of 15 healthy control horses were included in this study. We could consistently demonstrate an involvement of the retina and the choroid in all examined eyes of horses with spontaneous ERU. In eyes...
Gershwin LJ.Vaccines are important for providing protection from infectious diseases. Vaccination initiates a process that stimulates development of a robust and long-lived immune response to the disease agents in the vaccine. Side effects are sometimes associated with vaccination. These vary from development of acute hypersensitivity responses to vaccine components to local tissue reactions that are annoying but not significantly detrimental to the patient. The pathogenesis of these responses and the consequent clinical outcomes are discussed. Overstimulation of the immune response and the potential rela...
Clabough DL, Gebhard D, Flaherty MT, Whetter LE, Perry ST, Coggins L, Fuller FJ.An adult horse infected with a virulent, cell culture-adapted strain of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) developed cyclical thrombocytopenia in which the nadir of platelet counts coincided with peak febrile responses. In order to investigate the mechanism of thrombocytopenia during acute febrile episodes, four adult horses were experimentally infected with the wild-type Wyoming strain of EIAV. Platelet counts decreased from baseline as rectal temperature increased. Serum reverse transcriptase activity increased above background levels in all horses, coincident with increase in rectal temp...
Tallmadge RL, Lear TL, Antczak DF.The availability of a contig of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones spanning the equine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) made possible a detailed analysis of horse MHC class I genes. Prior to this study, only a single horse MHC class I gene had been sequenced at the genomic level. Although many ( approximately 60) MHC class I cDNA sequences had been determined and published, from this information, it was not possible to determine how many class I loci are expressed in horses or to assign individual sequences to allelic series. In this study, 15 MHC class I genes were identified ...
Laval K, Poelaert KCK, Van Cleemput J, Zhao J, Vandekerckhove AP, Gryspeerdt AC, Garré B, van der Meulen K, Baghi HB, Dubale HN, Zarak I....Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is an alphaherpesvirus related to pseudorabies virus (PRV) and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). This virus is one of the major pathogens affecting horses worldwide. EHV-1 is responsible for respiratory disorders, abortion, neonatal foal death and equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Over the last decade, EHV-1 has received growing attention due to the frequent outbreaks of abortions and/or EHM causing serious economical losses to the horse industry worldwide. To date, there are no effective antiviral drugs and current vaccines do not provide full protection a...
Adams AA, Katepalli MP, Kohler K, Reedy SE, Stilz JP, Vick MM, Fitzgerald BP, Lawrence LM, Horohov DW.Advanced age is associated with a low-grade, systemic inflammatory response characterized by increased inflammatory cytokine production both in vitro and in vivo, termed inflamm-aging. It is also known that increased white adipose tissue, associated with obesity, leads to increased production of inflammatory cytokines. To date, it is unknown whether increased adiposity contributes to the age-related increased inflammatory status. Here we show that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from old horses compared to young horses have increased inflammatory cytokine production; moreover, fat ol...
Ulbert S.West Nile virus (WNV) is a zoonotic virus that circulates in birds and is transmitted by mosquitoes. Incidentally, humans, horses and other mammals can also be infected. Disease symptoms caused by WNV range from fever to neurological complications, such as encephalitis or meningitis. Mortality is observed mostly in older and immunocompromised individuals. In recent years, epidemics caused by WNV in humans and horses have become more frequent in several Southern European countries, such as Italy and Greece. In 1999, WNV was introduced into the USA and spread over North America within a couple o...
Moore RM, Muir WW, Granger DN.Restoration of blood flow after a period of intestinal ischemia is necessary to maintain cell function and viability; however, the reintroduction of oxygen can initiate a cascade of events that exacerbates tissue injury. Intestinal I-R injury is manifested as increased microvascular and mucosal permeability, and mucosal necrosis. Reperfusion injury begins with the accumulation of hypoxanthine from ATP metabolism and the conversion of XDH to XO during ischemia. Upon reperfusion, the XO catalyzes the conversion of hypoxanthine to superoxide radicals in the presence of oxygen. Superoxide radicals...
Vance SJ, McDonald RE, Cooper A, Smith BO, Kennedy MW.Latherin is a highly surface-active allergen protein found in the sweat and saliva of horses and other equids. Its surfactant activity is intrinsic to the protein in its native form, and is manifest without associated lipids or glycosylation. Latherin probably functions as a wetting agent in evaporative cooling in horses, but it may also assist in mastication of fibrous food as well as inhibition of microbial biofilms. It is a member of the PLUNC family of proteins abundant in the oral cavity and saliva of mammals, one of which has also been shown to be a surfactant and capable of disrupting m...
Sheoran AS, Lunn DP, Holmes MA.This paper describes the production of a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) identifying the four recognised equine IgG subisotypes IgG, IgGa, IgGb, IgGc and IgG(T). Pure preparations of the subisotypes for use in immunisations and testing were produced using a combination of gel filtration, salt precipitation, ion exchange chromatography and protein A and Protein G affinity chromatography. The specificity of mAbs for the IgG subisotypes was confirmed using ELISA assays, by characterisation of affinity purified proteins recognised by the mAbs, and by Western blotting of equine serum proteins...
Kamath PL, Getz WM.Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes are central to vertebrate immune response and are believed to be under balancing selection by pathogens. This hypothesis has been supported by observations of extremely high polymorphism, elevated nonsynonymous to synonymous base pair substitution rates and trans-species polymorphisms at these loci. In equids, the organization and variability of this gene family has been described, however the full extent of diversity and selection is unknown. As selection is not expected to act uniformly on a functional gene, maximum likelihood codon-based models o...
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...
Carslake HB, Pinchbeck GL, McGowan CM.Many diagnostic tests for insulin dysregulation use reference intervals established with an insulin radioimmunoassay (RIA) that is no longer available. A chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) is commonly used for the measurement of serum insulin concentration in clinical practice but requires further validation, especially at clinically relevant reference intervals. Objective: To evaluate the CLIA for measurement of equine insulin and compare it to the previously validated, but now unavailable RIA. Methods: Equine serum samples (n = 78) from clinical and experimental studies. Methods: In this ex...
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 ...
Peachey LE, Castro C, Molena RA, Jenkins TP, Griffin JL, Cantacessi C.A plethora of data points towards a role of the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota of neonatal and young vertebrates in supporting the development and regulation of the host immune system. However, knowledge of the impact that infections by GI helminths exert on the developing microbiota of juvenile hosts is, thus far, limited. This study investigates, for the first time, the associations between acute infections by GI helminths and the faecal microbial and metabolic profiles of a cohort of equine youngstock, prior to and following treatment with parasiticides (ivermectin). We observed that high...
Tajima M, Nakajima H, Ito Y.Equine infectious anemia (EIA) virus was observed in thin sections of infected cultured horse leukocytes by electron microscopy. The virus particles had a spherical shape and were between 80 and 120 nm in diameter. Most of them contained an electron-dense nucleoid 40 to 60 nm in diameter. They were observed to form by a process of budding from the plasma membrane and appeared to have thin surface projections. The particles described were not detected in uninfected cultured cells, and their appearance could be prevented by adding EIA immune serum to the inoculum. The implications of these findi...
Irvine KL, Hopkins LJ, Gangloff M, Bryant CE.TLR2 recognises bacterial lipopeptides and lipoteichoic acid, and forms heterodimers with TLR1 or TLR6. TLR2 is relatively well characterised in mice and humans, with published crystal structures of human TLR2/1/Pam3CSK4 and murine TLR2/6/Pam2CSK4. Equine TLR4 is activated by a different panel of ligands to human and murine TLR4, but less is known about species differences at TLR2. We therefore cloned equine TLR2, TLR1 and TLR6, which showed over 80% sequence identity with these receptors from other mammals, and performed a structure-function analysis. TLR2/1 and TLR2/6 from both horses and hu...
Raabe ML, Issel CJ, Cook SJ, Cook RF, Woodson B, Montelaro RC.We have previously reported that immunization of ponies with a baculovirus-expressed recombinant surface unit envelope protein (rgp90) for equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) resulted in enhancement of disease symptoms and virus replication in 4 of 4 vaccine recipients subjected to a heterologous virus challenge (rpg90 I vaccine trial) (Wang et al., 1994). To extend these studies of EIAV vaccine enhancement, two additional and independent rgp90 vaccine trials (rgp90 II and rgp90 III) were performed. Combined, a total of 13 ponies were immunized with the rgp90 immunogen using our standard vac...
Gilger BC, Salmon JH, Wilkie DA, Cruysberg LP, Kim J, Hayat M, Kim H, Kim S, Yuan P, Lee SS, Harrington SM, Murray PR, Edelhauser HF, Csaky KG....To determine the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of an episcleral or deep scleral lamellar sustained release cyclosporine (CsA) device in a naturally occurring animal model of uveitis. Methods: A two-compartment perfusion chamber was used to assess in vitro human and equine scleral permeability of fluorescein, dexamethasone-fluorescein, or CsA. A biodegradable, matrix-reservoir CsA implant was designed, and release rates of CsA were determined in vitro. Tissue CsA levels were measured in eyes with the implant. Horses with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) received episcleral or deep sclera...
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...
Smith AD, Panickar KS, Urban JF, Dawson HD.Vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) play an important role in regulating and shaping an immune response. Deficiencies generally result in inadequate or dysregulated cellular activity and cytokine expression, thereby affecting the immune response. Decreased levels of natural killer, granulocyte, and phagocytic cell activity and T and B cell proliferation and trafficking are associated with inadequate levels of micronutrients, as well as increased susceptibility to various adverse health conditions, including inflammatory disorders, infection, and altered vaccine efficacy. In addition, most s...
Smits K, De Coninck DI, Van Nieuwerburgh F, Govaere J, Van Poucke M, Peelman L, Deforce D, Van Soom A.Although the equine oviduct clearly affects early embryo development and the selective transport of equine embryos through the oviduct indicates a reciprocal interaction, the influence of the embryo on gene expression in the oviduct remains to be determined in the horse. The aim of this study was to examine this by means of RNA sequencing. Four days after ovulation, epithelial cells ipsilateral and contralateral to the ovulation side from five cyclic and five pregnant mares were collected from the oviduct. RNA was extracted, samples were sequenced, and data analysis was performed to determine ...
Witkowski L, Cywinska A, Paschalis-Trela K, Crisman M, Kita J.Equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) has various etiologies, with Leptospira infection and genetic predisposition being the leading risk factors. Regardless of etiology, expression of ocular proteins associated with maintenance of the blood-ocular barrier is impaired in ERU. The recurring-remitting cycle of ERU repeatedly disrupts the blood-ocular barrier, allowing the previously immune-privileged ocular environment to become the site of a progressive local autoimmune pathology that ultimately results in tissue destruction and vision loss. The immune-mediated process involves humoral and cellular me...
Craigo JK, Montelaro RC.Equine infectious anemia (EIA), identified in 1843 [1] as an infectious disease of horses and as a viral infection in 1904, remains a concern in veterinary medicine today. Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has served as an animal model of HIV-1/AIDS research since the original identification of HIV. Similar to other lentiviruses, EIAV has a high propensity for genomic sequence and antigenic variation, principally in its envelope (Env) proteins. However, EIAV possesses a unique and dynamic disease presentation that has facilitated comprehensive analyses of the interactions between the evolv...
Burton AB, Wagner B, Erb HN, Ainsworth DM.Previously it was reported that compared to surviving septic foals, non-surviving foals had a 35-fold increase in interleukin-10 (IL-10) and 15-fold increase in IL-6 gene expression in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). As gene expression profiles can be time-consuming, we sought to determine if serum IL-6 and IL-10 in foals would aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of septicemia. A prospective study of septic neonatal foals admitted to the Cornell University Equine Hospital during 2007 and 2008 was performed. Septicemia was confirmed in 15 foals using blood culture results and se...
Kabithe E, Hillegas J, Stokol T, Moore J, Wagner B.CD14 is a receptor for the complex of lipopolysaccaride (LPS) and LPS-binding protein. Binding of this complex to CD14 in association with Toll-like receptor 4 provides a major pathway for the initiation of innate immune responses to bacterial pathogens. We used a mammalian expressed extracellular region of equine CD14 (rCD14) derived from an IgG fusion protein to produce monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to CD14. Eight mAbs were tested by flow cytometric analysis of equine leukocytes and by immunoblotting using rCD14 indicating that the mAbs recognized at least three different epitopes on equine C...
