Immunization in horses involves the administration of vaccines to stimulate an immune response, thereby providing protection against specific infectious diseases. Vaccines commonly used in equine medicine include those for equine influenza, tetanus, and West Nile virus. The process of immunization aims to prepare the horse's immune system to recognize and combat pathogens upon exposure. Vaccination schedules and protocols may vary based on factors such as age, health status, and regional disease prevalence. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the mechanisms, efficacy, and considerations of immunization practices in equine health.
Frey J, Eberle S, Stahl C, Mazuet C, Popoff M, Schatzmann E, Gerber V, Dungu B, Straub R.In Europe the incidence of botulism in horses has increased in the last decade due to the growing popularity of haylage feeding. Recombinant vaccines are safer and less expensive to produce and are generally better tolerated than toxoids. Objective: To investigate whether the recombinant C-terminal half of the heavy chain of the botulinum neurotoxin C (Hc BoNT/C) in combination with an immunstimulatory adjuvant is an appropriate vaccine candidate for horses by testing its efficacy to induce neutralising antibodies and by comparing its immunogenic properties and adverse reactions to a commercia...
Lopez AM, Townsend HG, Allen AL, Hondalus MK.Rhodococcus equi causes serious pneumonia in neonatal foals and is an opportunistic pathogen of people with compromised cellular immunity. No effective vaccine against R. equi disease in foals is available. We tested the safety and immunogenicity of a live, fully attenuated riboflavin auxotrophic candidate vaccine strain of R. equi (R. equi rib-). We demonstrated that R. equi rib- is immunogenic and capable of inducing IFN-gamma responses in immunocompetent BALB/c mice, yet it is safe even in an immunocompromised SCID mouse infection model. Moreover, it protects immunocompetent mice against vi...
Xiao C, Liu Y, Jiang Y, Magoffin DE, Guo H, Xuan H, Wang G, Wang LF, Tu C.Four monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were generated by immunizing BALB/C mice with recombinant nucleocapsid protein (N) of Nipah virus (NiV) and Hendra virus (HeV) expressed in E. coli. Two mAbs each were obtained for the HeV N and NiV N, respectively. All four mAbs displayed specific reactivity with the recombinant N proteins of both viruses by western blot, which was further confirmed by immunofluorescent antibody assay using fixed insect cells infected with recombinant baculoviruses expressing either the HeV or NiV N protein. Epitope mapping using a 12-mer random peptide phage display library ...
Xu Y, Jia Z, Zhou L, Wang L, Li J, Liang Y, Zhao T, Ni B, Wu Y.To warrant potential clinical testing, the equine anti-SARS-CoV F(ab')(2) requires evaluation in as many animal models as possible and a safety test in a primate model. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacokinetics, tolerance and immunity of this kind of antibody in macaques and rats. Results showed that the F(ab')(2) fragments had a normal metabolism in injected animals. The general physiological indexes did not differ between animals injected with anti-SARS-CoV F(ab')(2) or saline. However, a mild inflammatory response in local injection site and a moderate immune response against this an...
Ljungberg K, Whitmore AC, Fluet ME, Moran TP, Shabman RS, Collier ML, Kraus AA, Thompson JM, Montefiori DC, Beard C, Johnston RE.A novel genetic vaccine that is based on a Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) replicon launched from plasmid DNA is described. The plasmid encodes a VEE replicon under the transcriptional control of the cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter (VEE DNA). The VEE DNA consistently expressed 3- to 15-fold more green fluorescent protein in vitro than did a conventional DNA vaccine. Furthermore, transfection with the DNA-launched VEE replicon induced apoptosis and type I interferon production. Inoculation of mice with VEE DNA encoding human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp160 significantly ...
Furr M.Diagnosis of neuro-inflammatory conditions in the horse can be challenging. Current methods include evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for inflammation and determination of specific antibody status. The antibody index (AI) and Goldman-Witmer coefficient (C-value) can be used to aid in the interpretation. Objective: The null hypothesis to be tested was that the Al and C-values do not change in horses with neuroinflammation. Methods: Twelve horses of various ages (3-17 years) and breeds (Thoroughbred, Thoroughbred cross, draft, and Arabian) were included in the study. Methods: The study was...
Mealey RH, Stone DM, Hines MT, Alperin DC, Littke MH, Leib SR, Leach SE, Hines SA.Improving the ability of DNA-based vaccines to induce potent Type1/Th1 responses against intracellular pathogens in large outbred species is essential. Rhodoccocus equi and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) are two naturally occurring equine pathogens that also serve as important large animal models of neonatal immunity and lentiviral immune control. Neonates present a unique challenge for immunization due to their diminished immunologic capabilities and apparent Th2 bias. In an effort to augment R. equi- and EIAV-specific Th1 responses induced by DNA vaccination, we hypothesized that a du...
Lewis MJ, Wagner B, Woof JM.Recombinant versions of the seven equine IgG subclasses were expressed in CHO cells. All assembled into intact immunoglobulins stabilised by disulphide bridges, although, reminiscent of human IgG4, a small proportion of equine IgG4 and IgG7 were held together by non-covalent bonds alone. All seven IgGs were N-glycosylated. In addition IgG3 appeared to be O-glycosylated and could bind the lectin jacalin. Staphylococcal protein A displayed weak binding for the equine IgGs in the order: IgG1>IgG3>IgG4>IgG7>IgG2=IgG5>IgG6. Streptococcal protein G bound strongly to IgG1, IgG4 and IgG7, moderately t...
Barquero N, Gilkerson JR, Newton JR.Evidence of vaccine efficacy is essential for practitioners when giving advice to clients about the relative merits of different vaccines or when trying to evaluate the economic benefits of instituting a vaccine program. In equine veterinary medicine, this sort of data, which are necessary to make informed decisions about vaccine use and effectiveness, are often not available. Veterinarians need to consider the epidemiology of the disease in question, the type of vaccine that they are administering to the animal, the immunologic constraints of the vaccine technology, and the available evidence...
Sevcik C, Díaz P, D'Suze G.Specific immunoassays were developed to detect anti-horse, anti-chicken and anti-bovine immunoglobulins in human IgG preparations. Three samples of 5% human IgG for intravenous use ("Inmunoglobulina G Endovenosa al 5%"(trade mark), Quimbiotec CA), were studied. All samples were produced from pools of >2500 plasma units from different donors. One sample was produced from an only Venezuelan plasma pool (2660 donors) and the other two were produced from a 1:1 blend of Venezuelan and Canadian plasma pools. The amounts of human IgG detected were 0.017 (0.015,0.020) mg/ml (n=18) against horse IgG...
Minke JM, Toulemonde CE, Dinic S, Cozette V, Cullinane A, Audonnet JC.A classical limitation of early life immunization is the interference by maternally derived antibodies, which are known to inhibit the immune response to modified-live and killed vaccines. Several studies have convincingly shown that even minute amounts of maternally derived antibodies against equine influenza can strongly interfere with successful vaccination of foals born to immune mares. In this study we evaluated the response of foals born to vaccinated mares to immunization with a canarypox-vectored recombinant vaccine against equine influenza virus H3N8. The recombinant vaccine was able ...
Morein B, Blomqvist G, Hu K.The maintenance of pregnancy requires suppression of the maternal immune system which would naturally recognize the developing fetus as an allograft and seek to destroy it by mounting a Th1 regulated cytotoxic immune response. During pregnancy a range of soluble factors are produced by the placenta which switch maternal immune regulation towards a protective Th2 phenotype. These factors also influence the developing fetal immune system and all newborns initially have an immunological milieu skewed towards Th2 immunity. Vaccination during the neonatal period must therefore overcome the dual cha...
Pei Y, Nicholson V, Woods K, Prescott JF.Rhodococcus equi causes fatal granulomatous pneumonia in foals and immunocompromised animals and humans. However, there is no effective vaccine against this infection. In this study, the chromosomal genes isocitrate lyase (icl) and cholesterol oxidase (choE) were chosen as targets for mutation and assessment of the double mutant as an intrabronchial vaccine in 1-week-old foals. Using a modification of a suicide plasmid previously developed in this laboratory, we developed a choE-icl unmarked deletion mutant of R. equi strain 103+. Five 1-week-old foals were infected intrabronchially with the m...
Struff WG, Sprotte G.Mammals supply their newborn before birth, at birth or shortly after birth with antibodies, immunocytes and humoral constituents. This "borrowed immunity" is a form of passive immunization to protect the newborn against environmental pathogens until it establishes its own pathogen recognition and disposal systems. In cows, goats, horses and some other animal species, most immunoglobulins are obtained from the colostrum, the first milk after birth, via the gut but in humans the majority of immunoglobulins, and those of the IgG-class in particular, are acquired from the mother by placental trans...
Pusterla N, Chaney KP, Maes R, Wise AG, Holland R, Schott HC.The objective of this study was to investigate whether intramuscular vaccination of healthy adult horses with a killed or a modified live equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine could induce transient positive PCR results in either blood or secretions collected on a nasopharyngeal swab. Four horses in each group received either a single killed or a modified-live vaccine intramuscularly. Two local commingled and 2 distant nonvaccinated controls were included for each group. All horses were observed daily for evidence of clinical abnormalities throughout the study periods. Blood and nasopharyn...
Floyd RV, Mason SL, Proudman CJ, German AJ, Marples D, Mobasheri A.Aquaporins (AQPs) play fundamental roles in water and osmolyte homeostasis by facilitating water and small solute movement across plasma membranes of epithelial, endothelial, and other tissues. AQP proteins are abundantly expressed in the mammalian kidney, where they have been shown to play essential roles in fluid balance and urine concentration. Thus far, the majority of studies on renal AQPs have been carried out in laboratory rodents and sheep; no data have been published on the expression of AQPs in kidneys of equines or other large mammals. The aim of this comparative study was to determ...
Nishimoto KP, Laust AK, Wang K, Kamrud KI, Hubby B, Smith JF, Nelson EL.Dendritic cells (DCs) consist of heterogeneous phenotypic populations and have diverse immunostimulatory functions dependent on both lineage and functional phenotype, but as exceptionally potent antigen-presenting cells, they are targets for generating effective antigen-specific immune responses. A promising replicon particle vector derived from Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEE) has been reported to transduce murine footpad DCs. However, the receptive DC subset, the degree of restriction for this tropism, and the extent of conservation between rodents and humans have not been well cha...
Tagmyer TL, Craigo JK, Cook SJ, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infection of horses provides a valuable model for examining the natural immunological control of lentivirus infection and disease and the mechanisms of protective and enhancing vaccine immunity. We have previously hypothesized that the EIAV envelope (Env) proteins gp90 and gp45 are major determinants of vaccine efficacy, and that the development of protective immunity by attenuated viral vaccines may be associated with the progressive redirection of immune responses from immunodominant, variable Env segments to immunorecessive, conserved Env sequences. Whi...
Tiyawisutsri R, Holden MT, Tumapa S, Rengpipat S, Clarke SR, Foster SJ, Nierman WC, Day NP, Peacock SJ.The bacterial biothreat agents Burkholderia mallei and Burkholderia pseudomallei are the cause of glanders and melioidosis, respectively. Genomic and epidemiological studies have shown that B. mallei is a recently emerged, host restricted clone of B. pseudomallei. Results: Using bacteriophage-mediated immunoscreening we identified genes expressed in vivo during experimental equine glanders infection. A family of immunodominant antigens were identified that share protein domain architectures with hemagglutinins and invasins. These have been designated Burkholderia Hep_Hag autotransporter (BuHA)...
Johnson S.West Nile virus affects many animals, but the highest prevalence of morbidity and mortality is observed in birds, horses, and humans. The purpose of this study was to determine a protocol in birds of prey and corvids, using a vaccine developed for horses. The birds were assigned to five groups. Groups 1-4 received 0.25 ml, 0.5 ml, 0.75 ml, and 1.0 ml, respectively, and group 5 served as a control group. The greatest percentage of seroconversion (58.3%) was observed in the vaccine group that received a dose of 1.0 ml administered thrice, 3 wk apart. This report demonstrates that a vaccine devel...
Zhang X, Wang Y, Liang H, Wei L, Xiang W, Shen R, Shao Y.The equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) donkey-leukocyte attenuated vaccine (DLV) has been used to protect against equine infectious anaemia (EIA) disease for several decades in China. The attenuated mechanism and immunological protective mechanisms remain to be elucidated. To identify responses that correlate with the protection against disease, we immunized horses with DLV, followed by challenge with an EIAV wild-type strain LN. All vaccinated horses were asymptomatic and had a low level of virus replication (<10 copies ml-1). The expression level of cytokines including gamma interferon...
Timoney JF, Qin A, Muthupalani S, Artiushin S.Streptococcus equi, a clonal descendent of an ancestral S. zooepidemicus, causes equine strangles, a highly contagious purulent lymphadenitis of the head and neck. The aim of this study was to evaluate as vaccine components novel surface exposed or secreted S. equi proteins identified in an expression gene library with sera from resistant horses. Six proteins expressed by S. equi CF32 but not by S. zooepidemicus 631 were used to vaccinate one group of eight ponies. A second pony group was immunized with five adhesin and other proteins encoded by genes of Linkage Gr 1. All ponies made strong se...
Sayasith K, Bouchard N, Doré M, Sirois J.The mammalian ovulatory process is accompanied by a gonadotropin-dependent increase in follicular levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and PGF2alpha, which are metabolized by 15-hydroxy prostaglandin dehydrogenase (PGDH). Little is known about ovarian PGDH regulation in non-primate species. The objectives of this study were to characterize the structure of equine PGDH and its regulation in follicles during human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-induced ovulation. The full-length equine PGDH was obtained by RT-PCR, 5'- and 3'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Its open reading frame encodes a 26...
Elhay M, Newbold A, Britton A, Turley P, Dowsett K, Walker J.To examine the immunogenicity of an equine immunocontraceptive vaccine and its efficacy in controlling hormone-related behaviour. Methods: A total of 24 mares at two sites in Australia were vaccinated with an immunocontraceptive vaccine comprising gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) conjugated to a carrier protein in immunostimulating complex as an adjuvant. Twelve animals at each site received a placebo of adjuvant alone and served as controls for seasonal oestrus, hormonal and behaviour patterns. Animals were observed for injection site reactions, ovarian and follicular activity, and seru...
Satou K, Nishiura H.To evaluate the partial effects of vaccination against equine Japanese encephalitis (JE) and characterize other prognostic factors based on previous outbreak records in Japan from 1953 to 1960. Methods: Individual case records, which included demographic information, vaccination history, and clinical information (dates of onset, recovery and death, and symptoms), were investigated. The relations between two outcomes, JE death and symptomatic period, and other variables were examined. Results: Of a total reported 803 cases during the observation period, 453 (56.5%) were diagnosed with either se...
Minke JM, Toulemonde CE, Coupier H, Guigal PM, Dinic S, Sindle T, Jessett D, Black L, Bublot M, Pardo MC, Audonnet JC.To determine onset and duration of immunity provided by a 2- or 3-dose series of a new canarypox-vectored recombinant vaccine for equine influenza virus (rCP-EIV vaccine) expressing the hemagglutinin genes of influenza H3N8 virus strains A/eq/Kentucky/94 and A/eq/Newmarket/2/93 in ponies. Methods: Forty-nine 1- to 3-year-old male Welsh Mountain Ponies that were seronegative for equine influenza virus. Methods: Vaccinated and control ponies were challenged with aerosolized influenza virus A/eq/Sussex/89 (H3N8), representative of the Eurasian lineage of circulating influenza viruses. In trial 1,...
Rosas CT, Tischer BK, Perkins GA, Wagner B, Goodman LB, Osterrieder N.The immunogenicity in horses of a recombinant equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) vaccine expressing West Nile virus (WNV) prM and E proteins was studied. To construct the recombinant EHV-1, two-step en passant mutagenesis was employed for manipulation of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) of vaccine strain RacH. Recombinant EHV-1 stably expressed the WNV prM and E proteins as demonstrated by indirect immunofluorescence and Western blotting. In addition, growth properties in vitro of the EHV-1/WNV recombinant were found to not be significantly different from those of the parental virus. To ...
Waller A, Flock M, Smith K, Robinson C, Mitchell Z, Karlström A, Lannergård J, Bergman R, Guss B, Flock JI.Strangles is an upper respiratory tract infection in horses, which is highly contagious and one of the more costly diseases of the horse. Three recombinant antigens were used to vaccinate horses, which were then experimentally challenged with Streptococcus equi, the causative agent for strangles. The vaccinated horses showed significantly reduced bacterial growth (p=0.02) and nasal discharge (p=0.0004), a typical symptom of strangles. Other clinical signs of strangles were also reduced and at post mortem examination, lower rate of empyaema or scarring of the guttural pouches was found in the v...
MacLachlan NJ, Balasuriya UB, Davis NL, Collier M, Johnston RE, Ferraro GL, Guthrie AJ.Viral diseases constitute an ever growing threat to the horse industry worldwide because of the rapid movement of large numbers of horses for competition and breeding. A number of different types of vaccines are available for protective immunization of horses against viral diseases. Traditional inactivated and live-attenuated (modified live virus, MLV) virus vaccines remain popular and efficacious but recombinant vaccines are increasingly being developed and used, in part because of the perceived deficiencies of some existing products. New generation vaccines include MLVs with deletions and/or...
Singh BR, Chandra M, Agrawal RK, Nagrajan B.The present study on antigenic competition among somatic 'O' antigens of different Salmonella groups (A, B, C1, C2, D and E1) in mares revealed that the immune response to most of the antigens was not (A, B, C2) or little (C1, D) affected by antigenic competition. However, E1 group antigen, which induced high antibody titres (Avg. 12967.3) when given alone, produced almost 3.5 log2 lower antibody titres on giving with other antigens, indicating the antigenic competition among some Salmonella group antigens. The antigenic competition varied for different antigens even of the similar chemical na...
Witkowski L, Kaba J, Rzewuska M, Nowicki M, Szaluś-Jordanow O, Kita J.Rhodococcus equi infection occurs worldwide and is one of the major causes of losing foals in the first six months of life. The application of serological tests in the diagnostics of rhodococcosis is limited, however they play a crucial role in immunological studies. The objective of this study was to develop and standardize ELISA test for the determination of the level of antibodies against Rhodococcus equi in equine serum and colostrum.Bacterial cell lysate was used as antigen. The test was standardized on 175 sera obtained from adult horses kept on rhodococcosis-free and endemic farms. Posi...
Science (New York, N.Y.)March 3, 1972
Volume 175, Issue 4025 996-997 doi: 10.1126/science.175.4025.996
Gershon RK, Kondo K.Mice rendered tolerant to sheep red cells and then given normal thymocytes, made no antibody when immunized with these cells. When immunized with horse red blood cells, however, they made significant amounts of noncross-reacting antibody to sheep red blood cells. This suggests that antibody-making precursor cells (B cells) which are nontolerant but nonactivatable by specific antigen, may exist in tolerant hosts.
Minke JM, El-Hage CM, Tazawa P, Homer D, Lemaitre L, Cozette V, Gilkerson JR, Kirkland PD.The results of an accelerated immunisation schedule for horses used as part of the emergency response plan to contain and eradicate equine influenza in Australia in 2007 is described. The horses studied were vaccinated with a recombinant canarypox-vectored vaccine (ProteqFlu®, Merial) with a shorter interdose interval. Vaccinated horses included foals aged less than 4 months.
Klei TR, Torbert BJ, Chapman MR, Ochoa R.Nonimmune pony foals 9 to 12 mo of age were vaccinated with third-stage Strongylus vulgaris larvae (L3) irradiated with 70, 100, or 130 Kr of gamma radiation. Ponies receiving per os inoculations of L3 irradiated with 70 or 100 Kr were protected from the clinical disease and lesions associated with challenge infections of 4,300 L3, when compared to nonvaccinated controls. Similarly, the numbers of worms from the challenging population recovered from successfully vaccinated animals were significantly lower than from nonvaccinated controls. The degree of resistance that develops in individuals c...
Cruz A, Sullivan DB, Doty KF, Hess RA, Canisso IF, Reddi PP.The acrosome plays a critical role in sperm-oocyte interactions during fertilization. SP-10 is an acrosomal matrix protein, which is evolutionarily conserved among mammals. The SP-10 antibody has been shown to be useful for staging the seminiferous cycle in the mouse and human. A canonical acrosomal marker; however, has never been used for staging in the horse. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the presence of SP-10 within the horse acrosome using an anti-mouse SP-10 antibody, to classify spermatids based on the shape of the acrosome, and then to use that information to a...
Kydd JH, Davis-Poynter NJ, Birch J, Hannant D, Minke J, Audonnet JC, Antczak DF, Ellis SA.Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) causes respiratory and neurological disease and abortion in horses. Animals with high frequencies of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) show reduced severity of respiratory disease and frequency of abortion, probably by CTL-mediated control of cell-associated viraemia. This study aimed to identify CTL epitopes restricted by selected major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles expressed in the equine leukocyte antigen (ELA) A3 haplotype. Effector CTL were induced from EHV-1-primed ponies and thoroughbreds with characterized MHC class I haplotypes and screened ...
Cook RF, Cook SJ, Bolin PS, Howe LJ, Zhou W, Montelaro RC, Issel CJ.In the context of DNA vaccines the native equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-envelope gene has proven to be an extremely weak immunogen in horses probably because the RNA transcripts are poorly expressed owing to an unusual codon-usage bias, the possession of multiple RNA splice sites and potential adenosine-rich RNA instability elements. To overcome these problems a synthetic version of sequences encoding the EIAV surface unit (SU) envelope glycoprotein was produced (SYNSU) in which the codon-usage bias was modified to conform to that of highly expressed horse and human genes. In transfect...
Malmgren L, Andresen O, Dalin AM.The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) immunisation on mature stallions that had been used for breeding. Four Standardbred stallions were used in the study: 3 experimental animals and 1 control animal. Semen was collected regularly, i.e. twice/week, during the 4 months prior to the experimental period. The stallions were immunised against GnRH with a GnRH-BSA conjugate. Equimune was used as the adjuvant. The stallions were immunised on 5 occasions, 4 at 2 week intervals, and the fifth 4 weeks after the fourth. Blood samples were taken once...
Nogradi N, Slovis NM, Gebhart CJ, Wolfsdorf KE, McCracken JL, Scoggin CF, Kass PH, Mapes SM, Toth B, Lundquist ML, Pusterla N.Equine proliferative enteropathy caused by Lawsonia intracellularis is an emerging disease with as yet unaddressed preventative measures. The hypothesis of this study was that vaccination will prevent clinical and sub-clinical disease. Weanling Thoroughbreds (n=202) from Central Kentucky were randomly assigned into two groups (vaccinated and non-vaccinated). Vaccinated foals received 30 mL of an avirulent, live L. intracellularis vaccine intra-rectally twice, 30 days apart. Foals were monitored for clinical disease, total solids and average weight gain until yearling age. There was an overall ...
Allen WR, Kydd JH, Boyle MS, Antczak DF.Transfer of donkey embryos to horse mares provides a useful model of early fetal death. Endometrial cups do not develop in this one type of extraspecific pregnancy and 80% of donkey fetuses are aborted between Days 80 and 100 of gestation in conjunction with abnormal implantation and an intense accumulation of leucocytes in the endometrium of the surrogate mare. Treatment of mares carrying donkey conceptuses with progestagen (allyl trenbolone) or purified horse chorionic gonadotrophin does not prevent abortion. However, passive immunization with serum from mares carrying intraspecific horse fe...
Taouji S, Bréard E, Peyret-Lacombe A, Pronost S, Fortier G, Collobert-Laugier C.Virulence-associated protein A (VapA) of Rhodococcus equi has been proposed for use both as a vaccine and as a target for antibodies in immunotherapy and diagnostic tests. Epitope mapping of VapA allowed the identification of two B cell epitopes associated with R. equi pneumonia. The peptide NLQKDEPGRASDT was confirmed as an immunodominant N-terminal B cell epitope recognized by all sera from infected foals while VSFQYNAVGPYLNINFFDSS (C-terminal B cell epitope) was exclusively recognized by IgA from the tracheal aspirates. Moreover, specific antibodies produced against the VapA-specific peptid...
Gibson RB, Banzhaf EJ.Gravimetric determinations were recorded for the total and several individual proteins (in the sodium oxalate plasma) fractioned with ammonium sulphate and sodium chloride. At precipitation, the plasma salt mixture had been diluted to a final volume of ten times the amount of plasma employed. Coagulations were on aliquot portions of filtrates, and the individual protein constituents (except serumalbumin) were calculated by difference. The eleven horses had been subjected to simultaneous immunization against diphtheria and tetanus toxins, each horse being subsequently continued on the toxin to ...
Bailly-Chouriberry L, Loup B, Popot MA, Dreau ML, Garcia P, Bruyas JF, Bonnaire Y.Since the availability on the European market of the vaccine Improvac® dedicated to male pig immunological castration, the risk of misuse of this product in horses is now considered as a threat for the horseracing industry. Immunological castration is not allowed by the racing codes (immune system, Article 6). Indeed, this vaccination against the hypothalamic hormone luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone or gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) will prevent the release from the anterior pituitary of luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone, which are required for the development a...
Burrows R, Spooner PR, Goodridge D.Ponies held in isolation for 40 months were vaccinated and revaccinated with four commercial equine influenza vaccines. Little or no HI antibody was detected after the first inoculation; second and subsequent annual revaccinations produced peak HI antibody titres between 7 and 14 days. Titres fell quickly between 14 and 28 days and less quickly thereafter. The decline of HI antibody appeared to be related more to the initial titre attained and to the period after vaccination than to the composition of the vaccine. The response to a first annual revaccination was superior to that produced by a ...
Kendall A, Anagrius K, Gånheim A, Rosanowski SM, Bergström K.Recommendations for prophylactic vaccination against tetanus in horses vary greatly between countries and have scarce scientific support in the peer-reviewed literature. In human medicine, recommended booster vaccination intervals are also very variable, but are considerably longer than for horses. More information is needed about the duration of immunity induced by modern vaccines. Objective: To investigate if the duration of antibody titres previously determined to be protective against tetanus differ from what is indicated by recommended vaccination intervals for horses. Methods: Prospectiv...
Garza F, Thompson DL, French DD, Wiest JJ, St George RL, Ashley KB, Jones LS, Mitchell PS, McNeill DR.Five lighthorse mares were actively immunized against gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) to determine the relative importance of this hypothalamic hormone in the secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Five mares immunized against the conjugation protein served as controls. Mares were initially immunized in November and received secondary immunizations 4 wk later, and then at 6-wk intervals until ovariectomy in June. All mares immunized against GnRH exhibited an increase (p less than 0.01) in the binding of tritiated GnRH by plasma, an indication that a...
Lord CC, Woolhouse ME, Mellor PS.A simulation model including two hosts (horses and donkeys) and one vector (Culicoides imicola) for African horse sickness in Spain is extended to consider vaccination strategies. If hosts were protected prior to virus introduction, elimination of simulated epidemics was related nonlinearly to the fraction protected. Protecting donkeys as well as horses increased the effectiveness of vaccination. Prevention of 50% of epidemics required 75% coverage of horses and donkeys or 90% coverage of horses only. Protection after the introduction of the virus was rarely successful in preventing outbreaks....
Causey RC, Artiushin SC, Crowley IF, Weber JA, Homola AD, Kelley A, Stephenson LA, Opitz HM, Guilmain S, Timoney JF.Attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium MGN707, expressing the SzP protective protein of the MB9 serovar of Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus (SzP-MB9) was tested for its safety and efficacy as a nebulised intranasal vaccine against streptococcal uterine infections in mares. In a preliminary study, vaccinated mares (n=5) displayed serum, nasal and uterine responses (P<0.05) to S. Typhimurium lipopolysaccharide (St-LPS). Subsequently, vaccinated mares (expressor group, n=7), but not mares vaccinated with the vector only (control group, n=7), displayed significant increas...
Ibañez LI, Caldevilla CA, Paredes Rojas Y, Mattion N.H3N8 influenza virus strains have been associated with infectious disease in equine populations throughout the world. Although current vaccines for equine influenza stimulate a protective humoral immune response against the surface glycoproteins, disease in vaccinated horses has been frequently reported, probably due to poor induction of cross-reactive antibodies against non-matching strains. This work describes the performance of a recombinant protein vaccine expressed in prokaryotic cells (ΔHAp) and of a genetic vaccine (ΔHAe), both based on the conserved stem region of influenza hemagglut...
Dowsett KF, Pattie WA, Knott LM, Jackson AE, Hoskinson RM, Rigby RP, Moss BA.This study tested the effectiveness of a conjugated GnRH vaccine for stimulating antibody production, suppressing testosterone secretion and depressing testicular development in yearling colts. Two colts were allocated to each of three groups, (1) control, (2) subcutaneous and (3) intramuscular vaccinations. Two injections of the vaccine were given 11 weeks apart. Liveweight gain was not affected by vaccination but plasma testosterone concentrations in the treated colts were suppressed and their antibody titres to GnRH were greater than 1:1000. Testicular development in the treated colts also ...
Racine T, Denizot M, Pannetier D, Nguyen L, Pasquier A, Raoul H, Saluzzo JF, Kobinger G, Veas F, Herbreteau CH.There is no vaccine or approved therapy against lethal Ebola virus (EBOV). We investigated a proven technology platform to produce polyclonal IgG fragments, F(ab')2, against EBOV. Horses immunized with nanoparticles harboring surface glycoprotein trimers of EBOV-Zaire/Makona produced anti-Ebola IgG polyclonal antibodies with high neutralization activity. Highly purified equine anti-Ebola F(ab')2 showed strong cross-neutralization of 2 Zaire EBOV strains (Gabon 2001 and Makona) and in vivo 3 or 5 daily F(ab')2 intraperitoneal injections provided 100% protection to BALB/c mice against lethal EBO...
Zhao Y, Chang J, Zhang B, Tong P, Wang C, Ran D, Su Y.Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) induces serious respiratory infections, viral abortion, neurological signs, and neonatal mortality in horses. Despite the use of vaccines, EHV-1 infection also causes a high annual economic burden to the equine industry. The poor immunogenicity of and protection conferred by EHV-1 vaccines are the major factors responsible for the spread of EHV-1 infection. The present study examined the immunogenicity of a novel DNA vaccine co-expressing FliC, a flagellin protein, in Salmonella abortus equi and the gD protein of EHV-1. Mice and horses were immunized intramuscularl...
Heuzenroeder MW, Barton MD, Vanniasinkam T, Phumoonna T.The aim of this chapter is to provide a strategy for mapping linear antibody epitopes of protein antigens in order to discover candidates for vaccines or diagnostic tests. A set of overlapping peptides was designed and synthesised based upon a known amino acid sequence of the target protein, virulence-associated protein A (VapA) of the bacterium Rhodococcus equi, an important pulmonary pathogen in foals.The peptides were biotinylated and used in an ELISA to screen immune sera from foals. These biotinylated peptides were coated directly onto micro titre plates that had been pre-coated with Neut...
Liu J, Zhang Z, Bai A, Sha Y, Ma L, Qin S, Chen F, Qin S, Wu J.Feline parvovirus (FPV), a type of parvovirus prevalent worldwide, can cause foetal death and acute enteritis in adult cats with severe leukopenia, and yet there are no effective drugs to prevent or treat FPV. Here, the immune effects of two FPV vaccines on horses were compared. IgG was extracted from FPV-immunized horse sera. Equine F(ab') fragments were obtained from pepsin-digested IgG and then purified by protein-G column chromatography. The results showed that the inactivated FPV oil vaccine was more effective than the inactivated FPV propolis vaccine in helping healthy horses to produce ...
Craigo JK, Ezzelarab C, Cook SJ, Chong L, Horohov D, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Lentiviral envelope (Env) antigenic variation and associated immune evasion present major obstacles to vaccine development. The concept that Env is a critical determinant for vaccine efficacy is well accepted, however defined correlates of protection associated with Env variation have yet to be determined. We reported an attenuated equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) vaccine study that directly examined the effect of lentiviral Env sequence variation on vaccine efficacy. The study identified a significant, inverse, linear correlation between vaccine efficacy and increasing divergence of the ...
Patel JR, Didlick S, Bateman H.Currently, there is no recommended immunoprophylaxis against febrile respiratory diseases due to equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) and -4 (EHV-4) in horses below age 5-6 months. This is because of interference by maternally-derived antibody (MDA) of vaccines. Objective: Unweaned equine foals are an important reservoir of EHV-1 transmission; therefore, we experimentally assessed the efficacy of a live EHV-1 vaccine in foals age 1.4-3.5 months with MDA. Methods: Following vaccination and challenge, parameters assessed were virus shedding in nasal mucus, leucocyte-associated viraemia, circulating viru...
Sahu SP.Pony mares were vaccinated with killed contagious equine metritis (CEM) bacteria by IV, subcutaneous, and intrauterine (IU) routes (or a combination of these routes). The serum agglutinating antibody titer varied from 1:64 to 1:1,024 after vaccination. In pony mares challenge exposed with 96-hour-old culture of CEM bacteria given by IU route, there were clinical signs of CEM, but these signs were less severe in vaccinated mares than in nonvaccinated mares. The bacterium was isolated for the exudate and from uterine samples collected from the mares after challenge exposure. A low titer of IU an...
Ronchi GF, Ulisse S, Rossi E, Franchi P, Armillotta G, Capista S, Peccio A, Di Ventura M, Pini A.Monovalent, inactivated and adjuvanted vaccines against African horse sickness, prepared with serotypes 5 and 9, were tested on guinea-pigs to select the formulation that offered the greatest immunity. The final formulation of the vaccines took into account the immune response in the guinea-pig and the inflammatory properties of two types of adjuvant previously tested on target animals. A pilot study was subsequently conducted on horses using a vaccine prepared with serotype 9. The vaccine stimulated neutralising antibodies from the first administration and, after the booster dose, 28 days lat...
Schellenbacher C, Shafti-Keramat S, Huber B, Fink D, Brandt S, Kirnbauer R.The consistent and specific presence of Equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) DNA and mRNA in equine genital squamous cell carcinoma (gSCC) is suggestive of an etiological role in tumor development. To further validate this concept, EcPV2-neutralizing serum antibody titers were determined by an EcPV2 pseudovirion (PsV) neutralization assay. Furthermore, an EcPV2 L1 virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccine was generated and its prophylactic efficacy evaluated in vivo. All 6/6 gSCC-affected, but only 3/20 tumor-free age-matched animals revealed EcPV2-neutralizing serum antibody titers by P...
