Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is an antibody class involved in the immune response of horses, particularly in allergic reactions and parasitic infections. It binds to allergens and triggers the release of inflammatory mediators from mast cells and basophils. Elevated levels of IgE are often associated with hypersensitivity disorders, such as insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in horses. This page assembles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that investigate the production, regulation, and clinical implications of Immunoglobulin E in equine health, including its role in allergic conditions and potential as a diagnostic marker.
Wagner B, Perkins G, Babasyan S, Freer H, Keggan A, Goodman LB, Glaser A, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V, Björnsdóttir S.Neonatal foals respond poorly to conventional vaccines. These vaccines typically target T-helper (Th) cell dependent B-cell activation. However, Th2-cell immunity is impaired in foals during the first three months of life. In contrast, neonatal basophils are potent interleukin-4 (IL-4) producers. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel vaccine triggering the natural capacity of neonatal basophils to secrete IL-4 and to evaluate if vaccination resulted in B-cell activation and antibody production against EHV-1 glycoprotein C (gC). Neonatal vaccination was performed by oral biotinylated...
Jonsdottir S, Svansson V, Stefansdottir SB, Mäntylä E, Marti E, Torsteinsdottir S.Insect bite hypersensitivity is an immunoglobulin (Ig)E-mediated dermatitis of horses initiated by bites of midges of the genus Culicoides. Culicoides spp. are not indigenous to Iceland and the prevalence of insect bite hypersensitivity is much higher in horses born in Iceland and exported as compared to Icelandic horses born in a Culicoides rich environment. Immunotherapy is therefore needed. Objective: The aim of the study was to express an allergen from Culicoides in barley grain and investigate whether an immune response could be obtained in healthy Icelandic horses by oral treatment with ...
Fotschki J, Szyc AM, Laparra JM, Markiewicz LH, Wróblewska B.The aim of this study was to examine immune adaptive changes, the expression of innate biomarkers and variations in intestinal microbiota composition after horse-milk administration in BALB/c mice, which were sensitized intraperitoneally using cow β-lactoglobulin and α-casein with aluminum adjuvant. We measured serum antibody IgE levels and the expression of MCP-1, IL-4, and TNF-α in duodenal samples. Changes in immune cell populations in peripheral blood were quantified using flow cytometry, and intestinal microbiota composition was assessed using real-time PCR. We found that horse-milk ad...
Scholz FM, Burrows AK, Muse R.Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) offers an alternative mode of allergen delivery to subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) with the aim of inducing immunological tolerance. Currently, there are no published reports regarding the efficacy or safety of SLIT in horses. Objective: To describe the first case of several adverse events occurring in a horse subsequent to the repeat administration of SLIT. Methods: A seven-year-old, warmblood mare with a confirmed diagnosis of equine hypersensitivity dermatitis (EHD). Results: Immunotherapy was recommended for management of EHD. Due to the temperament of the...
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...
Mueller RS, Janda J, Jensen-Jarolim E, Rhyner C, Marti E.Allergic diseases in animals are increasingly gaining importance in veterinary practice and as research models. For intradermal testing and allergen immunotherapy, a good knowledge of relevant allergens for the individual species is of great importance. Currently, the knowledge about relevant veterinary allergens is based on sensitization rates identified by intradermal testing or serum testing for allergen-specific IgE; crude extracts are the basis for most evaluations. Only a few studies provide evidence about the molecular structure of (particularly) dust mite, insect and mould allergens in...
Niedzwiedz A, Jaworski Z, Kubiak K.Equine recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), also known as heaves, is one of the most common respiratory problems in older horses. When RAO-affected horses stay pastured or in a dust-free environment for a prolonged time, clinical signs as well as airway inflammation wane. A number of environmental, immunologic, infectious, and genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of RAO, and the immunologic basis of this disease is still poorly understood. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the concentrations of allergen-specific IgE in the serum of horses suffering from R...
Marti E, Wang X, Jambari NN, Rhyner C, Olzhausen J, Pérez-Barea JJ, Figueredo GP, Alcocer MJ.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a seasonal recurrent skin allergy of horses caused by IgE-mediated reactions to allergens present in the saliva of biting insects of the genus Culicoides, and possibly also Simulium and Stomoxys species. In this work we show that protein microarrays containing complex extracts and pure proteins, including recombinant Culicoides allergens, can be used as a powerful technique for the diagnosis of IBH. Besides the obvious advantages such as general profiling and use of few microliters of samples, this microarray technique permits automation and allows the gen...
Jonsdottir S, Hamza E, Janda J, Rhyner C, Meinke A, Marti E, Svansson V, Torsteinsdottir S.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an allergic dermatitis of horses caused by bites of midges (Culicoides spp.). IgE-mediated reactions are often involved in the pathogenesis of this disease. IBH does not occur in Iceland due to the absence of Culicoides, but it occurs with a high frequency in Icelandic horses exported to mainland Europe, where Culicoides are present. We hypothesize that immunization with the Culicoides allergens before export could reduce the incidence of IBH in exported Icelandic horses. The aim of the present study was therefore to compare intradermal and intralymphatic ...
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...
Jensen-Jarolim E, Einhorn L, Herrmann I, Thalhammer JG, Panakova L.Both humans and their most important domestic animals harbor IgE and a similar IgE receptor repertoire and expression pattern. The same cell types are also involved in the triggering or regulation of allergies, such as mast cells, eosinophils or T-regulatory cells. Translational clinical studies in domestic animals could therefore help cure animal allergies and at the same time gather knowledge relevant to human patients. Dogs, cats and horses may spontaneously and to different extents develop immediate type symptoms to pollen allergens. The skin, nasal and bronchial reactions, as well as chro...
Dupont S, De Spiegeleer A, Liu DJ, Lefère L, van Doorn DA, Hesta M.Commercial immunoglobulin E (IgE)-based tests are available for diagnosis of food allergies and are commonly used in equine practice. However, these tests have been proven unreliable as a screening method in man and other species, but not critically evaluated in equids. Therefore, a commercially available IgE-based test for horses was evaluated. Objective: To evaluate the consistency of the results obtained with a commercially available IgE-based test for food allergy diagnosis in ponies (Phase I) and to subject ponies to a provocation trial with the presumed allergens (Phase II). Methods: All...
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...
Gershwin LJ.Allergic responses occur in humans, rodents, non-human primates, avian species, and all of the domestic animals. These responses are mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies that bind to mast cells and cause release/synthesis of potent mediators. Clinical syndromes include naturally occurring asthma in humans and cats; atopic dermatitis in humans, dogs, horses, and several other species; food allergies; and anaphylactic shock. Experimental induction of asthma in mice, rats, monkeys, sheep, and cats has helped to reveal mechanisms of pathogenesis of asthma in humans. All of these species s...
Glikin GC, Finocchiaro LM.Despite the important progress obtained in the treatment of some pets' malignancies, new treatments need to be developed. Being critical in cancer control and progression, the immune system's appropriate modulation may provide effective therapeutic options. In this review we summarize the outcomes of published immunogene therapy veterinary clinical trials reported by many research centers. A variety of tumors such as canine melanoma, soft tissue sarcomas, osteosarcoma and lymphoma, feline fibrosarcoma, and equine melanoma were subjected to different treatment approaches. Both viral and mainly ...
Sabban S, Ye H, Helm B.The interaction of IgE with its high-affinity Fc receptor (FcεRI) followed by an antigenic challenge is the principal pathway in IgE mediated allergic reactions. As a consequence of the high affinity binding between IgE and FcεRI, along with the continuous production of IgE by B cells, allergies usually persist throughout life, with currently no permanent cure available. Horses, especially race horses, which are commonly inbred, are a species of mammals that are very prone to the development of hypersensitivity responses, which can seriously affect their performance. Physiological responses ...
Wilson AD.Horses are affected by a wide variety of arthropod ectoparasites, ranging from lice which spend their entire life on the host, through ticks which feed over a period of days, to numerous biting insects that only transiently visit the host to feed. The presence of ectoparasites elicits a number of host responses including innate inflammatory responses, adaptive immune reactions and altered behaviour; all of which can reduce the severity of the parasite burden. All of these different responses are linked through immune mechanisms mediated by mast cells and IgE antibodies which have an important ...
Wilkołek PM, Pomorski ZJ, Szczepanik MP, Adamek L, Pluta M, Taszkun I, Gołyński M, Rozwód A, Sitkowski W.The present study was designed to asses specific IgE towards environment allergens in 42 healthy horses. Determination of this immunoglobulin in serum serve as diagnostic tools in allergic diseases to improve efficacy of the treatment and proper allergen selection to specific immunotherapy. Serum levels of allergen specific IgE were measured with equine monoclonal antibody, using 15 individual and 5 mix allergens in North European Panel. The study revealed season dependent increased levels of allergen specific IgE in normal horses. It is noteworthy that healthy horses show high percentage of p...
Woodward MC, Andrews FM, Kearney MT, Del Piero F, Hammerberg B, Pucheu-Haston CM.To characterize the response of skin of nonallergic horses following ID injection of polyclonal rabbit anti-canine IgE (anti-IgE) and rabbit IgG. Methods: 6 healthy horses. Methods: Skin in the cervical area was injected ID with anti-IgE and IgG. Wheal measurements and skin biopsy specimens were obtained before and 20 minutes and 6, 24, and 48 hours after injection. Tissue sections were evaluated for inflammatory cells at 4 dermal depths. Immunohistochemical analysis for CD3, CD4, and CD8 was performed, and cell counts were evaluated. Results: Anti-IgE wheals were significantly larger than IgG...
Roberts HA, Hurcombe SD, Hillier A, Lorch G.House dust mite (HDM) and storage mite (SM) stable fauna and their associated equine intradermal test (IDT) threshold concentrations (TCs) for the midwestern region of the USA are unknown. Objective: To determine IDT TCs and serum IgE concentrations for two HDM and three SM species in clinically normal horses over two seasons, and to identify the mite taxa and habitats in a stable. Methods: Thirty-eight clinically normal horses. Methods: Threshold concentrations for HDMs and SMs were determined using IDT subjective measurements and a statistical model. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was ...
Schurink A, van der Meide NM, Savelkoul HF, Ducro BJ, Tijhaar E.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a common allergic skin disease in horses, caused by biting insects of the Culicoides spp. In The Netherlands, Culicoides spp. of the Obsoletus complex are the most important midges involved in IBH. The aim of the present study was to identify and quantify associations between several endogenous (host) and exogenous (environmental) factors and immunoglobulin E (IgE) reactivity against Obsoletus complex-derived whole body extract or seven recombinant allergens, measured by ELISA. Data from 143 Icelandic horses and 177 Shetland ponies were analysed using mult...
Tallmadge RL, Tseng CT, Felippe MJ.To further studies of neonatal immune responses to pathogens and vaccination, we investigated the dynamics of B lymphocyte development and immunoglobulin (Ig) gene diversity. Previously we demonstrated that equine fetal Ig VDJ sequences exhibit combinatorial and junctional diversity levels comparable to those of adult Ig VDJ sequences. Herein, RACE clones from fetal, neonatal, foal, and adult lymphoid tissue were assessed for Ig lambda light chain combinatorial, junctional, and sequence diversity. Remarkably, more lambda variable genes (IGLV) were used during fetal life than later stages and I...
Dürrwald R, Kolodziejek J, Weissenböck H, Nowotny N.Borna disease (BD) is a sporadic neurologic disease of horses and sheep caused by mammalian Borna disease virus (BDV). Its unique epidemiological features include: limited occurrence in certain endemic regions of central Europe, yearly varying disease peaks, and a seasonal pattern with higher disease frequencies in spring and a disease nadir in autumn. It is most probably not directly transmitted between horses and sheep. All these features led to the assumption that an indigenous virus reservoir of BDV other than horses and sheep may exist. The search for such a reservoir had been unsuccessfu...
De-Simone SG, Napoleão-Pêgo P, Teixeira-Pinto LA, Melgarejo AR, Aguiar AS, Provance DW.The presence of whole horse IgG in therapeutic snake antivenom preparations of high purity is a contamination that can cause IgE-mediated allergic reactions in patients. In this study, the immunodominant IgE and IgG-binding epitopes in horse heavy chain IgG3 were mapped using arrays of overlapping peptides synthesized directly onto activated cellulose membranes. Pooled human sera from patients with and without horse antivenom allergies were used to probe the membrane. We have demonstrated that, for both cases, individuals produce antibodies to epitopes of sequential amino acids of horse heavy ...
van der Meide NM, Savelkoul HF, Meulenbroeks C, Ducro BJ, Tijhaar E.Culicoides spp. of the Obsoletus complex belong to the most important species of midge, involved in causing insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in horses in The Netherlands. The aim of the current study was to evaluate seven different Obsoletus complex-derived recombinant allergens (Cul o 1-Cul o 7) and to compare these with Obsoletus complex whole body extract (WBE) in an IgE ELISA, using sera of 194 clinically-confirmed cases of IBH and 175 unaffected horses. The highest test accuracy was obtained with WBE, followed by Cul o 2, 3 and 5. Two ELISAs with a combination of recombinant allergens, ...
Larson EM, Babasyan S, Wagner B.Human IgE-binding monocytes are identified as allergic disease mediators, but it is unknown whether IgE-binding monocytes promote or prevent an allergic response. We identified IgE-binding monocytes in equine peripheral blood as IgE+/MHCIIhigh/CD14low cells that bind IgE through an FcεRI αɣ variant. IgE-binding monocytes were analyzed monthly in Culicoides hypersensitive horses and nonallergic horses living together with natural exposure to Culicoides midges. The phenotype and frequency of IgE-binding monocytes remained consistent in all horses regardless of Culicoides exposure. All horses ...
Wagner B, Flaminio JB, Hillegas J, Leibold W, Erb HN, Antczak DF.IgE is the key antibody involved in type I allergies. Allergen mediated crosslinking of IgE bound to high affinity Fcepsilon-receptors on mast cells and basophils stimulates cellular degranulation and release of inflammatory mediators and cytokines. In this report, we demonstrate that IgE antibodies can be transferred from the mother to offspring in horses via the colostrum. We found a clear correlation between the IgE concentration in colostrum and the total IgE concentration in foal sera on day 2 after birth (r(sp)=0.83). Maternal IgE was detected in foal sera by ELISA and on peripheral bloo...
Emenius G, Larsson PH, Wickman M, Härfast B.The objective was to establish an ELISA to detect horse allergen in ambient air and settled dust. Methods: Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were produced against extracts of horse antigen. Two mAbs were selected and used in a sandwich ELISA. By the aid of portable pumps, air samples were collected in one stable and in the ambient air surrounding this stable. Furthermore, settled dust was collected by wiping spots with pieces of fabric, at sites within 500 m of the stable. Results: Extracts of horsehair could be extensively diluted and still be positive. Extracts of cat and dog allergen failed to b...
Hesselmar B, Aberg B, Eriksson B, Aberg N.In this 5-year follow-up study we compared the prevalence of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, eczema, and sensitization, in relation to several background factors, in two Swedish regions (Göteborg and Kiruna). In Göteborg, a city on the southwest coast, the climate is mild and humid. Kiruna is a town north of the Arctic Circle. Questionnaire replies and results of interviews were collected from all 412 7-8-year-old children of a population-based sample (203 in Göteborg and 209 in Kiruna); in addition, 192 children from Göteborg and 205 from Kiruna were skin-prick tested for sensitization to c...
Larsen HJ, Bakke SH, Mehl R.A skin test survey was carried out in Icelandic horses in Norway and Iceland using extracts of Culicoides spp. as antigen. Eleven horses with recurrent seasonal dermatitis reacted with an immediate hypersensitivity response to intradermal challenge with antigen. All except one of thirty-three clinically normal horses in Norway showed a negative response in skin tests. These findings indicate that Culicoides spp. may be the major cause of the disease in Norway. Only one of the 110 horses tested in Iceland showed any skin test reaction (weak), demonstrating that the horses were not sensitized to...
Furrer E, Bilzer T, Stitz L, Planz O.Experimental Borna disease virus (BDV) infection of rats and natural infection of horses and sheep leads to severe central nervous system disease based on immunopathological pathways. The virus replicates slowly, and the cellular immune response results in immunopathology. CD8(+) T cells exert effector cell functions, and their activity results in the destruction of virus-infected cells. Previously, Oldach and colleagues (D. Oldach, M. C. Zink, J. M. Pyper, S. Herzog, R. Rott, O. Narayan, and J. E. Clements, Virology 206:426-434, 1995) have reported protection against Borna disease after inocu...
Verdon M, Lanz S, Rhyner C, Gerber V, Marti E.Genetic, epidemiologic, and clinical evidence suggests that, in horses, there are manifestations of hypersensitivity that can occur together. Objective: To investigate whether concurrent insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) and severe equine asthma (EA) is associated with higher allergen-specific and total serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentrations than only EA or IBH. Methods: Healthy control horses (C, n = 40), horses with IBH (IBH, n = 24), severe EA (EA, n = 18), and both conditions (IBH/EA, n = 23) were included. Methods: In our retrospective comparative study, sera from ho...
Lorch G, Hillier A, Kwochka KW, Saville WJ, Kohn CW, LeRoy BE.To compare a radioallergosorbent test and 2 ELISA with intradermal testing for the determination of environmental allergen hypersensitivity in horses with and without atopic diseases. Methods: Prospective clinical study. Methods: 10 horses with recurrent urticaria, 7 with atopic dermatitis, 16 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and 22 without atopy. Methods: History, physical examination, hemogram, serum biochemical analyses, bronchoalveolar lavage, and an intradermal test (used as the criterion standard) with a regional panel of 73 allergens were performed in all horses. Serum was an...
Hellberg W, Mellor PS, Torsteinsdóttir S, Marti E.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an IgE-mediated allergic dermatitis of horses caused by bites of insects such as Culicoides or Simulium spp. The aim of the present study was to compare the IgE-binding pattern of sera of IBH-affected horses to Culicoides nubeculosus and Simulium vittatum salivary gland extracts (SGE). Individual IgE responses to proteins of S. vittatum and C. nubeculosus SGEs were evaluated in 15 IBH-affected and three healthy horses on immunoblots. Fourteen out of the 15 IBH-affected but none of the healthy horses showed individual IgE binding patterns to seven and six m...
Ryan C, Giguère S.The objectives of this study were to compare relative vaccine-specific serum immunoglobulin concentrations, vaccine-specific lymphoproliferative responses, and cytokine profiles of proliferating lymphocytes between 3-day-old foals, 3-month-old foals, and adult horses after vaccination with a killed adjuvanted vaccine. Horses were vaccinated intramuscularly twice at 3-week intervals with a vaccine containing antigens from bovine viral respiratory pathogens to avoid interference from maternal antibody. Both groups of foals and adult horses responded to the vaccine with a significant increase in ...
Torsteinsdottir S, Scheidegger S, Baselgia S, Jonsdottir S, Svansson V, Björnsdottir S, Marti E.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an IgE-mediated dermatitis caused by bites of Culicoides spp., which occurs frequently in horses imported from Iceland to continental Europe. IBH does not occur in Iceland because Culicoides species that bite horses are not present. However, Simulium vittatum (S. vittatum) are found in Iceland. In Europe, blood basophils from IBH-affected horses release significantly more sulfidoleukotrienes (sLT) than those from healthy controls after in vitro stimulation with Culicoides nubeculosus (C. nubeculosus) and S. vittatum. Aims of the study were: (I) using the s...
Wagner B, Stokol T, Ainsworth DM.Transfer of maternal IgE antibodies to the neonate with the colostrum has been described in different mammalian species. Previous work in horses has shown that IgE bound to the surface of neonatal basophils is solely of maternal origin. However, the functional role of the maternal IgE transfer remained unclear. We hypothesized that maternal IgE mediates the onset of innate IL-4 production in equine neonatal basophils. Intracellular IL-4 production was measured in PBMC of newborn and older foals by flow cytometric analysis. A small population of IL-4(+) cells was observed in the peripheral bloo...
Quinn PJ, Baker KP, Morrow AN.In a study of the skin reactivity of horses with lesions of sweet itch, six clinically normal horses and seven affected horses were challenged intradermally with extracts of Culicoides, Stomoxys, Tabanidae and Culex species. All the affected horses and three of the normal horses responded strongly to the culicoides extract. The skin reactions in the affected horses reached their maxima within 4 h in the majority of animals. Skin reactivity to culicoides was transferred to normal horses with serum from affected animals confirming that the reaction was an immediate hypersensitivity reaction. Thr...
Wyler M, Sage SE, Marti E, White S, Gerber V.The diagnostic value of allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) in horses with asthma is uncertain. A recently developed protein microarray detected abnormally high latex-specific IgE concentrations in the serum of horses with severe asthma. Objective: The main objective was to characterize the IgE profiles of asthmatic horses in Switzerland using a protein microarray platform in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). The secondary objective was to determine whether serological and BALF allergen-specific IgE concentrations correlated. Methods: Forty-four asthmatic and 39 control horse...
Niedzwiedz A, Jaworski Z, Kubiak K.Equine recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), also known as heaves, is one of the most common respiratory problems in older horses. When RAO-affected horses stay pastured or in a dust-free environment for a prolonged time, clinical signs as well as airway inflammation wane. A number of environmental, immunologic, infectious, and genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of RAO, and the immunologic basis of this disease is still poorly understood. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the concentrations of allergen-specific IgE in the serum of horses suffering from R...
Marti E, Wang X, Jambari NN, Rhyner C, Olzhausen J, Pérez-Barea JJ, Figueredo GP, Alcocer MJ.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is a seasonal recurrent skin allergy of horses caused by IgE-mediated reactions to allergens present in the saliva of biting insects of the genus Culicoides, and possibly also Simulium and Stomoxys species. In this work we show that protein microarrays containing complex extracts and pure proteins, including recombinant Culicoides allergens, can be used as a powerful technique for the diagnosis of IBH. Besides the obvious advantages such as general profiling and use of few microliters of samples, this microarray technique permits automation and allows the gen...
Burka JF, Deline TR, Holroyde MC, Eyre P.Horses were sensitized to bovine plasma in Freund's complete adjuvant. Leukocytes, separated from venous blood, yielded histamine upon incubation with bovine plasma. Ioslated lung fragments incubated with bovine plasma liberated histamine and 5-HT, but not SRS-A. Pulmonary veins obtained from the same animals contracted to histamine, 5-HT and to antigen (Schultz-Dale reaction). Histamine and 5-HT probably contribute to immediate-type hypersensitivity in horses whereas the role of SRS-A is not proved.
White S, Moore-Colyer M, Marti E, Coüetil L, Hannant D, Richard EA, Alcocer M.Severe asthma in horses, known as severe equine asthma (SEA), is a prevalent, performance-limiting disease associated with increased allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) against a range of environmental aeroallergens. Objective: To develop a protein microarray platform to profile IgE against a range of proven and novel environmental proteins in SEA-affected horses. Methods: Six SEA-affected and 6 clinically healthy Warmblood performance horses. Methods: Developed a protein microarray (n = 384) using protein extracts and purified proteins from a large number of families including pollen, ba...
Tallmadge RL, Tseng CT, Felippe MJ.To further studies of neonatal immune responses to pathogens and vaccination, we investigated the dynamics of B lymphocyte development and immunoglobulin (Ig) gene diversity. Previously we demonstrated that equine fetal Ig VDJ sequences exhibit combinatorial and junctional diversity levels comparable to those of adult Ig VDJ sequences. Herein, RACE clones from fetal, neonatal, foal, and adult lymphoid tissue were assessed for Ig lambda light chain combinatorial, junctional, and sequence diversity. Remarkably, more lambda variable genes (IGLV) were used during fetal life than later stages and I...
van der Meide NM, Savelkoul HF, Meulenbroeks C, Ducro BJ, Tijhaar E.Culicoides spp. of the Obsoletus complex belong to the most important species of midge, involved in causing insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in horses in The Netherlands. The aim of the current study was to evaluate seven different Obsoletus complex-derived recombinant allergens (Cul o 1-Cul o 7) and to compare these with Obsoletus complex whole body extract (WBE) in an IgE ELISA, using sera of 194 clinically-confirmed cases of IBH and 175 unaffected horses. The highest test accuracy was obtained with WBE, followed by Cul o 2, 3 and 5. Two ELISAs with a combination of recombinant allergens, ...
Raza F, Ivanek R, Freer H, Reiche D, Rose H, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V, Björnsdóttir S, Wagner B.Culicoides hypersensitivity (CH) is induced in horses by salivary allergens of Culicoides midges. In Iceland, the causal Culicoides species for CH are not present. Previous epidemiological data indicated that Icelandic horses are more susceptible to CH when they are exported from Iceland and first exposed to Culicoides at adult age. Horses born in countries where Culicoides is endemic, develop the disease less frequently. Here, we established a longitudinal allergy model to identify predictive and diagnostic serological biomarkers of CH. Results: Sixteen adult Icelandic horses from Iceland wer...
Frey R, Bergvall K, Egenvall A.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) and atopy can both be causes of pruritus in horses and are associated with allergen-specific IgE to biting insects and environmental allergens respectively. Information with respect to differences in IgE levels in diseased and healthy animals is crucial in enabling an understanding of the clinical relevance of results of allergen-specific IgE tests. The aim of this study was (i) to evaluate and compare levels of allergen-specific IgE, using an ELISA method, in Icelandic horses, with and without IBH, from Iceland and Sweden respectively; (ii) to investigate pa...
Braverman Y, Ungar-Waron H, Frith K, Adler H, Danieli Y, Baker KP, Quinn PJ.A survey of sweet itch in horses in Israel based on a questionnaire to owners reported that 158 of 723 horses (21.8 per cent) had sweet itch lesions. The results indicated that the likelihood of a horse acquiring sweet itch decreased with increasing altitude but no definite association with rainfall zones was evident. Variation in the density of the horse population, however, obscured these observations. In the population surveyed, stallions were more sensitive than mares and pale horses appeared to be less sensitive than dark ones, but the sample size of this latter group was much smaller. In...
Anderson GS, Belton P, Kleider N.Six horses severely affected by a seasonal dermatitis similar in both histopathology and epidemiology to Culicoides hypersensitivity (CH) and six unaffected or normal horses were inoculated intradermally with an extract of Culicoides obsoletus (Meigen), the most common Culicoides in southwestern British Columbia. Affected horses developed large welts within 20 min after injection, representing an immediate (type I) reaction; welts were largest 24 h or more after challenge, indicating in addition a delayed (type IV) reaction. This reaction was discernible for greater than 3 wk in some of the af...
Hamza E, Wagner B, Jungi TW, Mirkovitch J, Marti E.Insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) is an allergic dermatitis of horses caused by IgE-mediated reactions to bites of insects of the genus Culicoides. IBH does not occur in Iceland due to the absence of Culicoides. However, Icelandic horses exported to mainland Europe as adults (1st generation) have a > or =50% incidence of developing IBH. In contrast, their progeny (2nd generation) has a <10% incidence of IBH. Here we show that peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from Icelandic horses born in mainland Europe and belonging either to the IBH or healthy subgroup produce less interleukin (IL)...
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...
McGorum BC, Dixon PM, Halliwell RE.A commercial radioimmunoassay kit was used to quantify histamine concentrations of plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and pulmonary epithelial lining fluid (PELF) of normal horses and horses with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), before and after 'natural (hay and straw) challenge' (NC). There were no significant changes in the concentrations of histamine in plasma or BALF at 0.5 or 5 h after NC, but the PELF histamine concentration of COPD affected horses was significantly increased at 5 h, but not at 0.5 h, following NC. As the histamine concentrations of whole BALF lysa...
van der Haegen A, Griot-Wenk M, Welle M, Busato A, von Tscharner C, Zurbriggen A, Marti E.The aim of the present study was to investigate, with immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridisation, if immunoglobulin-E (IgE) and mast cells are involved in the pathogenesis of insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), an allergic dermatitis of horses. In tissue sections fixed in paraformaldehyde (PFA) for <24 h, significantly more IgE protein-bearing cells were found in the dermis and epidermis of acute and chronic IBH lesions than in skin biopsies from healthy horses (medians = 466, 236 and 110 cells/mm2, respectively; P < or = 0.01). More IgE-mRNA positive (+) cells were observed in the dermis ...
Fjeldsgaard BE, Paulsen BS.Extracts of horse dander (HD) and horse hair and skin scrapings (HHSS) have been compared with respect to their content of proteins and carbohydrates. The protein content of HD is more than double that of HHSS, while the carbohydrate content is of the same order. SDS-PAGE and IEF, both combined with immunoblotting, and CIE/CRIE showed the IgE-binding ability of the proteins/glycoproteins present in the two extracts. SDS-PAGE/immunoblotting showed the presence of mainly the same IgE-binding bands in the two extracts. Nine were detected in HD, and seven in HHSS. Four of these were glycoproteins....
