Immunoglobulins in horses are antibodies produced by the immune system to identify and neutralize pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. These proteins are essential components of the horse's immune response and are involved in recognizing foreign antigens. The primary classes of immunoglobulins in horses include IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, and IgD, each with distinct roles in immune function. IgG is the most abundant and plays a key role in systemic immune responses, while IgA is important for mucosal immunity. IgM is the first antibody produced in response to an antigen, and IgE is involved in allergic reactions. IgD's function is less well-defined but is thought to be involved in respiratory immune responses. This page aggregates peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the structure, function, and clinical relevance of immunoglobulins in equine health.
Geelen SN, Bernadina WE, Grinwis GC, Kalsbeek HC.A 15-year-old Dutch warmblood mare was presented because of lethargy, which had been present for several weeks, and severe anaemia. Total protein was high and serum electrophoresis revealed a monoclonal peak in the alpha-2 region. Monoclonal immunoglobulin, IgG(T), was detected by immuno-electrophoresis in serum and urine. Postmortem examination revealed a relatively large number of plasmacytoid cells in the bone marrow and a monotonous population of plasmacytoid cells in the spleen. These findings are suggestive of a plasma cell myeloma.
Tyler-McGowan CM, Hodgson JL, Hodgson DR.To determine the regional incidence and effectiveness of treatment of failure of passive transfer (FPT) in foals. Methods: A study of disease incidence. Methods: Eighty-eight foals and 57 mares from four studs in the practice area of the Rural Veterinary Centre were tested. Methods: Foals were tested for their serum IgG and total serum protein (TSP) concentration within the first 72 hours of life. Colostrum was collected from mares and specific gravity determined. FPT and partial failure of passive transfer (PFPT) of immunoglobulins was diagnosed when serum IgG concentrations were < 4 g/L and ...
Schrenzel MD, King DP, McKnight ML, Ferrick DA.Horse (Equus caballus) immunoglobulin mu chain-encoding (IgM) variable, joining, and constant gene segments were cloned and characterized. Nucleotide sequence analyses of 15 cDNA clones from a mesenteric lymph node library identified 7 unique variable gene segments, 5 separate joining segments, and a single constant region. Based on comparison with human sequences, horse variable segments could be grouped into either family 1 of immunoglobulin (Ig) clan I or family 4 of Ig clan II subclan IV. All horse sequences had a relatively conserved 16 base pair (bp) segment in framework 3 which was reco...
Arun SS, Breuer W, Hermanns W.Five species of domestic animals were examined immunohistochemically and the light-chain ratios of the immunoglobulins produced by plasma cells analysed. Forty dogs, 11 cats, 10 horses, 11 cattle and 14 pigs were tested using the sequential indirect immunoperoxidase and immunophosphatase methods. Tissues from the tonsils, spleen and cervical lymph nodes were analysed. It could be seen that the lambda/kappa ratio in dogs, cats, horses and cattle is largely dominated by the lambda chains (lambda/kappa ratio in dogs: 91/9%, in cats; 92/8%; in horses: 96/4%; in cattle: 91/9%). A more or less balan...
Raidal SL.Circulating IgG concentration was determined between 12 and 24 hours after birth for 323 foals born on a Thoroughbred breeding farm over 3 consecutive years. The incidence of failure of passive transfer (FPT) of maternal immunoglobulins (foal circulating IgG concentration < 8 g/L) was found to be 9.6%. Foals born late in the season (October to December) were found to be at increased risk for the development of FPT. The degree of assistance required at parturition and the presence of a periparturient problem in the mare or foal also significantly influenced the subsequent incidence of FPT. Pass...
Alape-Giron A, Stiles BG, Gutierrez JM.An ELISA based, non-radioactive acetylcholine receptor (AchR) binding assay was used to detect the alpha-neurotoxins present in Micrurus nigrocinctus nigrocinctus venom. Sera from horses hyperimmunized against M. nigrocinctus venom contain antibodies which inhibit the binding of M. n. nigrocinctus alpha-neurotoxins to AchR and reverse the binding of toxins already complexed with the receptor. This result supports the importance of using antivenom therapeutically in M. n. nigrocinctus envenomations even after the onset of neurological symptoms. M. nigrocinctus antivenoms cross-reacted in an ELI...
Darcel C.Diseases caused by lymphoid leukosis virus (LLV), a retrovirus, take a long time after infection to develop and have a wide variety of pathological manifestations. This long latent period is characteristic of 'persistent virus infections'. Disease produced by LLV infection and its underlying mechanisms is compared with 'persistent' infections caused by other retroviruses in birds and mammals of veterinary importance. The diseases considered for comparison are those caused by reticuloendotheliosis, feline leukaemia, bovine leukosis and equine infectious anaemia viruses. There are significant ch...
Drummer HE, Reubel GH, Studdert MJ.Peripheral blood leukocytes were collected from 5 Thoroughbred horses and examined for the presence of EHV2 in sub-populations of mononuclear cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were separated on Percoll gradients and then enriched for plastic adherent cells (predominantly monocytes), surface immunoglobulin positive (sIg+) B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes, using panning techniques. The purity of each cell population was assessed by fluorescence activated cell scanning. In an infectious centre assay, each cell population was inoculated onto equine foetal kidney monolayer cell cultures whic...
Tantawichien T, Benjavongkulchai M, Wilde H, Jaijaroensup W, Siakasem A, Chareonwai S, Yountong C, Sitprija V.The high cost of postexposure prophylaxis for rabies is one reason that treatment is inadequate in developing countries. This problem has kindled interest in the use of equine rabies immune globulin, which is a less expensive, yet effective, substitute for human rabies immune globulin. Fatal anaphylaxis is a feared complication of the administration of heterologous serum; therefore, authoritative sources recommend prior skin testing. However, recommendations for methods of administering such a skin test and for its interpretation vary greatly. We embarked on a long-term study to develop guidel...
Wagner B, Radbruch A, Richards C, Leibold W.In order to define equine immunoglobulins (Igs) and to produce monoclonal reference Igs we fused equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells with X63-Ag8.653 non Ig producing murine myeloma cells. A total of 29 equine Ig producing equi-murine heterohybridomas were obtained, of which ten expressed equine Ig for more than 3 months. One of these heterohybridoma lines produced monoclonal IgM, an equine isotype which has not been available in monoclonal form before. Four lines secreted equine IgG of two distinct Ig heavy chain types as assessed by the molecular weight (MW), while the remaining five l...
Perryman LE, Mason PH.Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have been successfully used to evaluate immune responses in horses, and to target important antigens of equine infectious agents to which protective immune responses may be directed (1–5). Most of these studies are performed with murine MAb produced by fusing spleen cells from immunized mice with an appropriate myeloma cell line, as described in Chapter 3. However, there are experimental questions for which murine MAb are not adequate. These include:
1.Definition of microbial epitopes recognized by the infected host;
2.Identification of immunodominant epito...
Hook RR, Riley LK, Franklin CL, Besch-Williford CL.A monoclonal antibody based competitive inhibition assay was used to detect antibodies in horse sera to purified flagellar antigens from distinct Clostridium piliforme isolates. Sequential absorption of hyperimmune rat serum to C. piliforme isolate E (horse-origin isolate), a positive C. piliforme-immune horse serum, and other suspected immune horse sera with unrelated bacteria or C. piliforme isolates E or isolate R1 (rat-origin isolate) alone demonstrated the specificity of this assay for C. piliforme. This specificity was associated with the inhibition of monoclonal antibody binding to C. p...
Andrews RK, Booth WJ, Bendall LJ, Berndt MC.von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a multifunctional glycoprotein in plasma and vascular subendothelial matrix which plays a major role in cellular adhesion. vWFdependent adhesion of platelets to the subendothelium at high shear rates involves a specific platelet membrane receptor, the glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX complex. We have previously purified a 39/34-kiloDalton (kDa) dispase fragment of vWF (Leu-480/Val-481 to Gly-718) and demonstrated that this fragment contains the binding site for the GP Ib-IX complex [Andrews R K, et al. Biochemistry 1989; 28: 8326-83361. vWF also mediates agglutination of ...
Ford JE, Home WA, Gibson DM.Horse Ig kappa genes have been characterized to determine whether there may be a structural basis for the low level of kappa expression in this species. The overall organization of the J kappa-C kappa locus is remarkably similar to that of the mouse and human loci. A single C kappa exon is separated by 2.9 kb from five J kappa segments, four of which seem functional and three of which are associated with canonical recombination signal sequences. A highly conserved intron enhancer was identified upstream of the C kappa exon and a single restriction fragment in horse genomic DNA hybridized stron...
Blanchard-Channell M, Moore PF, Stott JL.Two monoclonal antibodies (mAb), UC F6G-3 and UC F13C-5, were characterized as being specific for the apparent equine homologues of CD3 and CD5, respectively. Both antibodies exhibited characteristics of pan-T-lymphocyte markers based upon immunohistology and two-colour flow cytometry. UC F6G-3 precipitated a complex of proteins (up to seven) with molecular weights ranging from 18,000 to 42,000, similar to the human and murine CD3 complex. Upon further dissociation of the precipitated complex, two proteins were identified with molecular weights of 22,000 and 27,000. Immobilized UC F6G-3 was ef...
Kydd J, Antczak DF, Allen WR, Barbis D, Butcher G, Davis W, Duffus WP, Edington N, Grünig G, Holmes MA.The First International Workshop on Equine Leucocyte Antigens was organized and convened for the purposes of identifying immunologically relevant cell surface molecules of equine leucocytes and establishing a system of nomenclature for those molecules. Participating members of the workshop represented the majority of laboratories world-wide engaged in the tasks of production and characterization of equine leucocyte and lymphocyte markers using monoclonal antibodies. The workshop confirmed the identification of several equine CD molecules described previously by individual laboratories, and in ...
Zhang CH, Grünig G, Davis W, Antczak DF.The regulatory effects of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) on the expression of the CD4 molecule on horse T cells were investigated. On both peripheral blood lymphocytes and thymocytes, PMA resulted in a rapid and transient down-regulation of equine CD4 expression, but had no such effect on the surface expression of equine CD5, CD8 or major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II molecules. Over 75% of the surface CD4 molecules per cell were lost after a 4 h exposure to PMA at 37 degrees C. The regulation of equine CD4 expression induced by PMA was temperature dependent and revers...
Zhang CH, Donaldson WL, Antczak DF.A surface antigen of equine B lymphocytes was identified using the Equine Leucocyte Antigen Workshop antibody WS 65. This marker was expressed on almost all equine B cells, but not on T cells, granulocytes or thymocytes. WS 65 strongly stained cells in the follicular areas of lymph nodes and cells in the splenic nodules when tested on frozen tissue sections by immunohistochemistry. Equine leukemic T cells were not labeled by WS 65, and neither were the cells from a horse with B cell leukemia, although these latter cells carried surface immunoglobulin. Immunoprecipitation of lymphocyte membrane...
Morais JF, de Freitas MC, Yamaguchi IK, dos Santos MC, da Silva WD.IgG and F(ab')2 fragments were prepared from horse plasma rich in specific antibodies against Brazilian Bothrops or Crotalus venoms. Both preparations, free of gross contamination with non-immunoglobulin proteins, were able to combine in vitro with their respective antigens, forming immune complexes at antigen excess, equivalence or antibody excess, and activating the C system, through either the classical or the alternative pathways. The IgG preparation was more effective in neutralizing the lethal factors in Bothrops or Crotalus venoms, compared with the F(ab')2 fragments. In contrast, IgG a...
Leigh JA.A protein capable of activating bovine, equine and ovine plasminogen, but not that from human or porcine plasma, was purified from culture filtrates of Streptococcus uberis (strain 0140J). Purification was achieved by ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by molecular exclusion chromatography. The elution position of the native molecule was equivalent to a molecular mass of approximately 57 kDa. However, the molecular mass, as determined by SDS-PAGE, was 29 kDa, suggesting the existence of a dimeric structure. Purified immunoglobulin from three out of five monoclonal antibodies raised to th...
Knowles DP, Kappmeyer LS, Perryman LE.Horses possessing a normal immune system and spleen often control infection caused by Babesia equi. However, splenectomized horses are unable to control B. equi infection and usually succumb to the infection. To investigate the role of the spleen in the control of B. equi infection in the absence of specific immune responses, two 1-month-old foals with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and two age-matched normal foals were inoculated with B. equi. The SCID foals became febrile seven days postinoculation and developed terminal parasitemias of 41 and 29%. The SCID foals had greater than 50...
Rojas G, Jiménez JM, Gutiérrez JM.A simple methodology for hyperimmune horse plasma fractionation, based on caprylic acid precipitation, is described. Optimal conditions for fractionation were studied; the method gives best results when concentrated caprylic acid was added to plasma, whose pH had been adjusted to 5.8, until a final caprylic acid concentration of 5% was reached. The mixture was vigorously stirred during caprylic acid addition and then for 60 min; afterwards the mixture was filtered. Non-immunoglobulin proteins precipitated in these conditions, whereas a highly enriched immunoglobulin preparation was obtained in...
Mumford JA, Jessett DM, Rollinson EA, Hannant D, Draper ME.Seven previously untreated five-month-old New Forest ponies received two doses of equine influenza immunostimulating complex vaccines, one with and one without an immunopurified tetanus toxoid component, given by deep intramuscular injection six weeks apart, followed by a booster dose without tetanus toxoid five months later. Fifteen months after the third dose of vaccine, the ponies were challenged by exposure to an aerosol of influenza A/Equine 2/Sussex/89 (H3N8), a virus isolated from a recent outbreak of influenza A/equine 2 in Britain. The challenge produced severe clinical signs of influ...
Woods PR, Helman RG, Schmitz DG.A 5-year-old Quarter Horse mare was examined because of weight loss of 2 months' duration. The horse was anemic and in poor body condition, and had several areas of cutaneous ulceration, including areas on the muzzle and distal portion of the limbs. Histologic examination of a rectal mucosa biopsy specimen revealed a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate in the lamina propria mucosa. Results of a glucose absorption test were suggestive of malabsorption. Histologic examination of a biopsy specimen from the cutaneous lesions revealed pronounced arteritis, and weak, patchy immunofluorescent staining for i...
Watanabe T, Ohta C, Shirahata T, Goto H, Tsunoda N, Tagami M, Akita H.Foal diarrhea due to serotype 3 rotavirus broke out on a foal-raising farm in the years 1987 and 1989. In 1989, all of the foals, regardless of whether or not they suffered from diarrhea, received bovine colostral immunoglobulin (Ig) powder orally for 3 to 5 days during the epidemic. The morbidity of the diarrhea was lower than that observed in 1987, when the Ig powder was not administered to foals. These data suggested that the administration of Ig powder might partially prevent foal diarrhea with rotavirus infection.
Magnarelli LA, Anderson JF.In a retrospective study, indirect fluorescent-antibody staining methods were used to detect immunoglobulins to Ehrlichia canis and Ehrlichia risticii in canine and equine sera that had originally been analyzed for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. Analyses of 60 dog serum specimens collected in Connecticut and New York State during 1986 revealed antibodies to E. canis in 7 (11.7%) specimens; titration endpoints ranged from 1:40 to 1:320. Three of these dogs had anemia. Of the 187 equine serum specimens obtained in Connecticut during 1985 and analyzed by indirect fluorescent-antibody stainin...
Ansar Ahmed S, Furr M, Chickering WR, Sriranganathan N, Sponenberg DP.Immunological, clinical, and pathological investigations were conducted on a horse with lymphosarcoma. The immunological status was investigated by measuring the level of antibodies by single radial immunodiffusion test and the ability of lymphocytes to proliferate in response to mitogens. Multiple immunological abnormalities were noted in this horse. They were; (1) decreased IgM, IgG, and IgA levels in the serum despite hyperproteinemia; (2) increased in-vitro spontaneous lymphoproliferation which reflects augmented mitosis; (3) decreased lymphoproliferative response to T cell stimulants (e.g...
Sviatchenko VA, Agapov EV, Urmanov IKh, Serpinskiĭ OI, Frolov IV, Kolykhalov AA, Ryzhikov AB, Netesov SV.A recombinant strain of vaccinia virus (VR26) containing a DNA-copy of the subgenomic 26S RNA of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (VEE) inserted into the coding region of thymidine kinase (TK) gene was produced. This subgenomic RNA contained the genes for all structural proteins of the VEE virus, the strain Trinidad donkey (TRD). VR26 effectively expressed VEE virus glycoproteins on the membranes of the infected cells. Blood sera of VR26-immunized animals were found to contain VEE virus-specific antibodies. VR26-immunized mice and rabbits showed a high level of resistance to subcutane...
Pemberton AD, Miller HR, John HA, Scudamore CL.1. Antiproteinase deficiency can result in excessive proteinase-induced tissue damage. The major anti-elastase (Spi1) protein of equine alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor (alpha 1-PI) was isolated from the plasma/serum of three common haplotypes (I, L and U). 2. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the three inhibitors were identical, but were only approx 65-77% homologous with two other published equine Spi1 sequences. 3. All three inhibitors complexed quickly and irreversibly with equine leucocyte proteinase 2A (kass = 2 x 10(7) M-1 sec-1). They were also efficient inhibitors of chymase (rat mas...
Di Febo T, Luciani M, Ciarelli A, Bortone G, Di Pancrazio C, Rodomonti D, Teodori L, Tittarelli M.Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against horse IgG were produced by immunizing Balb/c mice with purified horse IgG and were characterized in indirect ELISA versus purified immunoglobulins from donkey, cow, buffalo, sheep, pig, and chicken. Three MAbs (1B10B6C9, 1B10B6C10, 1B10B6E9) reacted only with horse and donkey IgG and IgM and, in western blotting, were specific for the Fc fragment of equine IgG. MAb 1B10B6E9 was used in chemiluminescent immunoblotting assay for the diagnosis of dourine and in indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) for the diagnosis of African horse sickness and dourine.
Klei TR.Helminths are among the most significant parasites of horses in developed countries. This article examines immune responses against helminth parasites and the implications that immunologic investigations have on vaccine development, improvement of diagnostic procedures, and disease eradication.
Gaffin SL, Wells M, Jordan JP.Death in humans from ionising radiation overexposure in the 3-8 Gy (300-800 rad) range is in part due to the toxaemia caused by the entry of gram-negative bacteria and/or their lipopolysaccharide toxin (LPS) into the blood circulation through the walls of partially denuded gut. Anti-LPS hyperimmune equine plasma was evaluated for its ability to lower irradiation-induced lethality. Mice were irradiated with 6.3 Gy (630 rad) and six days later received equine Anti-LPS hyperimmune plasma, control plasma or saline. Mortalities in the three groups were 58%, 92% and 79% (p less than 0.01) respective...
Widders PR, Stokes CR, David JS, Bourne FJ.The effect of cycle stage on immunoglobulin and albumin levels in serum, follicular fluid, oviductal, uterine and vaginal secretions was measured. There was no variation in serum immunoglobulin levels during the oestrous cycle, although IgM levels were elevated in cyclic mares compared to non-cyclic (immature and anoestrous) animals. Similarly, there was no cyclical variation in follicular or oviductal protein concentrations. In the uterus, IgG and IgA levels relative to total protein were higher in oestrogenic than in progestagenic secretions, while the trend in relative IgM concentrations wa...
Bannai H, Kambayashi Y, Nemoto M, Ohta M, Tsujimura K.The immune response and protective efficacy of a modified equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) vaccine administered by two different routes were tested in horses. Horses that received intramuscular (IM) priming and an intranasal (IN) booster with a 28-day interval (IM-IN group [n = 6]), IN priming and IM booster (IN-IM group [n = 5]), or no vaccination (control group [n = 6]) were challenged with EHV-1 strain 10-I-224 28 days after the second vaccination. Both vaccinated groups had significantly higher serum virus-neutralizing titers than the control group, with increased levels of ser...
Maeda K, Mizukoshi F, Hamano M, Kai K, Kondo T, Matsumura T.Recently, a novel 12-mer B-cell epitope, MKNNPIYSEGSL, in the type-specific region of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) glycoprotein G (gG) was identified and used as an antigen for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Maeda et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 42:1095-1098, 2004). Although our prototype strain, TH20p, possesses two repeat sequences containing the B-cell epitope, the EHV-4 NS80567 strain has two repeat sequences that are not identical. One repeat sequence stretch contained the B-cell epitope, while the other contained the 11-mer, MKNNPVYSESL (underlining indicates a different amino acid). In ...
Kalsow CM, Dwyer AE, Smith AW, Nifong TP.Although experimental models of autoimmune uveitis predict pinealitis coincident with uveitis, there is no direct evidence of pineal pathology accompanying a human uveitis. Horses with naturally occurring uveitis are a potential source of eye and pineal tissues that are not available from human patients with active uveitis. We have observed pinealitis in a mare with equine recurrent uveitis. By immunohistochemistry we demonstrated immunoglobulin and MHC Class II antigen on infiltrating and resident cells of eye and pineal gland. These results support the relevance of the animal models and sugg...
Treffers HP, Heidelberger M, Freund J.1. Two horses were injected subcutaneously with alum-precipitated rabbit serum albumin. 2. The resulting antibody resembled diphtheria antitoxin and anti-egg albumin in the horse in giving a sharp zone of flocculation with antigen, in being water-soluble, in reactivity toward an anti-antibody rabbit serum, and in its electrophoretic properties. 3. The effect of continued immunization, and of variation in volume and temperature on the reactivity of the antibody are discussed. 4. Intravenous injection of the same antigen into horses did not give rise to detectable amounts of antibody of the same...
Rumbaugh GE, Ardans AA, Ginno D, Trommershausen-Smith A.Four procedures for assessment of adequacy of colostral immunoglobulin (Ig) transfer in foals were evaluated. Results of zinc sulfate turbidity test, serum electrophoresis, total serum protein refractometry, and sodium sulfite precipitation test were compared with immunoglobulin G content determined by single radial immunodiffusion. The zinc sulfate turbidity test gave acceptable results for IgG, except that hemolyzed serum samples gave higher than expected values. A correction factor for hemolyzed serum was found to be useful. Serum electrophoresis was a satisfactory method of estimating IgG ...
Andrews RK, Booth WJ, Bendall LJ, Berndt MC.von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a multifunctional glycoprotein in plasma and vascular subendothelial matrix which plays a major role in cellular adhesion. vWFdependent adhesion of platelets to the subendothelium at high shear rates involves a specific platelet membrane receptor, the glycoprotein (GP) Ib-IX complex. We have previously purified a 39/34-kiloDalton (kDa) dispase fragment of vWF (Leu-480/Val-481 to Gly-718) and demonstrated that this fragment contains the binding site for the GP Ib-IX complex [Andrews R K, et al. Biochemistry 1989; 28: 8326-83361. vWF also mediates agglutination of ...
Thomas GW, Bell SC, Carter SD.Fell pony foals are affected by a congenital fatal disease that leads to profound anaemia and immunodeficiency. Previous studies comparing healthy and affected foals have shown normal T-cell populations, but a severe B-lymphopenia. Objective: To measure the levels of individual immunoglobulin subisotypes in normal and affected Fell ponies and correlate these levels with the number of peripheral B-lymphocytes. Methods: Serum levels of individual immunoglobulin subisotypes were measured by ELISA and correlated with the number of peripheral B-lymphocytes (measured by flow cytometry). Results: Aff...
Vallone LV, Neaderland MH, Ledbetter EC, Dubielzig RR.To describe clinical, in vivo confocal microscopic, histopathologic, polymerase chain reaction assay for antigen receptor rearrangement (PARR) and immunohistochemical features of a horse with suspected malignant transformation of corneal B lymphocytes in immune-mediated keratitis (IMMK) and to also report surgical management and adjunctive treatment including topical and radiation therapies. Methods: A 15-year-old Oldenburg gelding was examined for presumptive progressive stromal IMMK of the right eye which became refractory to medical management. Corneal in vivo confocal microscopy revealed...
Tallmadge RL, Miller SC, Parry SA, Felippe MJB.The value of prophylactic neonatal vaccination is challenged by the interference of passively transferred maternal antibodies and immune competence at birth. Taken our previous studies on equine B cell ontogeny, we hypothesized that the equine neonate generates a diverse immunoglobulin repertoire in response to vaccination, independently of circulating maternal antibodies. In this study, equine neonates were vaccinated with 3 doses of keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) or equine influenza vaccine, and humoral immune responses were assessed using antigen-specific serum antibodies and B cell Ig var...
Burk SV, Dangoudoubiyam S, Brewster-Barnes T, Howe DK, Carter CN, Bryant UK, Rossano MG.Parascaris equorum is an intestinal nematode of foals and young horses that can produce mild to severe pathology. Current diagnosis is limited to detection of patent infections, when parasite eggs are identified during fecal examinations. This study examined the use of larval P. equorum excretory-secretory (ES) products in a western blot test for diagnosis of prepatent equine P. equorum infection. Sera from adult mares negative for patent P. equorum infections, foals prior to consuming colostrum, and P. equorum infected foals were used as controls in this study. Study samples included sera fro...
Marteles D, Verde MT, Conde T, Pereboom D, Casanova Á, Villanueva-Saz S, Ortín A, Fernández A.The aim of this study was to assess the effect of allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) on the immunological responses of horses. Blood samples were taken from thirty-two horses with allergic dermatitis treated with ASIT and 10 healthy control horses at 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months to investigate the evolution of the percentage of regulatory T cells (Treg) in the peripheral blood and the serum levels of cytokines and immunoglobulins. Clinical improvement was appreciated by the majority of the horses' owners (56.6%). No effect of ASIT on CD4CD25 Treg cells was found during the one year treatment...
Lyle SK.Placentitis is reported to be the cause of 9.8-33.5% of abortions, stillbirths and perinatal losses in horses. Bacterial infections are responsible for 53% of placentitis cases with Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus being isolated in 28% of these cases. Clinically, mares may have a vaginal discharge, show udder development, lactate prenatally and deliver a premature or dead foal. Major aspects of the pathogenesis of infectious preterm delivery that may require more effective therapeutic targeting are myometrial contraction, immunological aspects of preterm delivery, and the effects of proi...
Maria WS, Pacheco BG, Barbosa CF, Velarde DT, Chávez-Olórtegui C.The correlation coefficients between in vivo neutralization of lethal toxicity (ED(50)) and levels of antibodies measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in blood samples collected on filter paper were investigated to test the potency of horse antibothropic and anticrotalic antivenoms. Sixteen horses were hyperimmunized with Bothrops venom (50% from B. jararaca and 12.5% each from B. alternatus, B. jararacussu, B. neuwiedii and B. moojeni) and 12 horses with Crotalus durissus terrificus venom. Crude venom of C. d. terrificus and the lethal fraction of B. jararaca venom were used a...
Huertas RM, Arguedas M, Estrada JM, Moscoso E, Umaña D, Solano G, Vargas M, Segura Á, Sánchez A, Herrera M, Villalta M, Arroyo-Portilla C....During the production of snake antivenoms, the animals used as immunoglobulin source are subjected to processes that could deteriorate their physical condition. Therefore, these conditions must be carefully designed and validated. In this work, the immunization and bleeding protocols applied to horses used to produce the African polyspecific antivenom EchiTAb-plus-ICP were evaluated regarding their effects on the horses' health. The study focused on horses that had been previously immunized with venoms and then received periodic booster venom injections for antivenom production. It was found t...
Boy MG, Zhang C, Antczak DF, Hamir AN, Whitlock RH.A 10-month-old Arabian foal was evaluated for a suspected immunoglobulin (Ig) M deficiency. Decreased to nondetectable concentrations of IgM, IgA, and IgG (T), and a normal concentration of IgG, were present. Results of in vitro testing of the blood lymphocyte blastogenesis showed a weak response to the B-cell mitogen, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), but normal responses to T-cell mitogens. Results of postmortem examination showed synovitis of the left tibiotarsal and both scapulohumeral joints. Atrophy and edema of the lymph nodes and lymphocyte depletion in the thymus and spleen were seen. A subac...
McGuire TC, Banks KL, Evans DR, Poppie MJ.Agammaglobulinemia was diagnosed in a 1-year-old Thoroughbred horse on the basis of the following observations: (1) absence of serum immunoglobulins M, A, and G(T); (2) small amounts of serum immunoglobulin G (16 mg/100 ml); (3) absence of specific antibody in the serum of the horse following immunization and challenge exposure to 2 antigens; (4) absence of plasma cells, primary follicles, and germinal centers in a lymph node removed after antigenic stimulation; (5) absence of "natural" serum antibodies to rabbit-erythrocytes which were easily detectable in age-matched control horse serums; an...
Navas C, Manso T, Martins F, Minto L, Moreira R, Minozzo J, Antunes B, Vale A, McDaniel JR, Ippolito GC, Felicori LF.The antibody repertoire (Rep-seq) sequencing revolutionized the diversity of antigen B cell receptor studies, allowing deep and quantitative analysis to decipher the role of adaptive immunity in health and disease. Particularly, horse (Equus caballus) polyclonal antibodies have been produced and used since the century XIX to treat and prophylaxis diphtheria, tuberculosis, tetanus, pneumonia, and, more recently, COVID-19. However, our knowledge about the horse B cell receptors repertories is minimal. We present a deep horse antibody heavy chain repertoire (IGH) characterization of non-infected ...
Wagner B, Brandt K, Sheoran A, Holmes MA, Deegen E, Leibold W.The functional properties of different immunoglobulin isotypes in equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) has not been investigated yet. Here, we describe the quantitative determination of total immunoglobulin levels and isotype differentiation in the vitreous of four horses with ERU as compared to that of seven healthy horses. In contrast to almost equal amounts of total immunoglobulin in the vitreous of both groups, remarkable differences were found: All four of the horses with ERU had significantly higher IgA contents in their vitreous as compared to the control group. However, the other isotypes mo...
Watson ED, Stokes CR, Bourne FJ.Both random and directional migration of blood neutrophils from 9 mares susceptible to persistent endometritis were significantly less (p less than 0.05) than neutrophils from 8 resistant mares. Serum from susceptible mares had significantly more (p less than 0.01) chemotactic activity than serum from resistant mares. Although phagocytosis of yeast blastospores by blood neutrophils from 4 resistant and 3 susceptible mares was similar, uterine neutrophils from susceptible mares were significantly worse (p less than 0.01) at phagocytosis than uterine neutrophils from resistant mares. Uterine was...
McClure JJ, Addison JD, Miller RI.Oral candidiasis and bacterial septicemia were diagnosed in 8 foals that had laboratory and/or pathologic evidence of immunodeficiency. Two foals suffered solely from complete failure of passive transfer of colostal immunoglobulins. Six foals had evidence of immune defects but did not meet the criteria for diagnosis of any of the currently recognized primary equine immunodeficiency syndromes. All six of these foals died or were euthanatized due to bacterial infections. One foal with failure of passive transfer recovered and the other died of a mesenteric torsion before the effect of treatment ...