Innate gene repression associated with Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle: toward a gene signature of disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bovine tuberculosis is an enduring disease of cattle that has significant repercussions for human health. The advent of high-throughput functional genomics technologies has facilitated large-scale analyses of the immune response to this disease that may ultimately lead to novel diagnostics and therapeutic targets. Analysis of mRNA abundance in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from six <it>Mycobacterium bovis </it>infected cattle and six non-infected controls was performed. A targeted immunospecific bovine cDNA microarray with duplicated spot features representing 1,391 genes was used to test the hypothesis that a distinct gene expression profile may exist in <it>M. bovis </it>infected animals <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 378 gene features were differentially expressed at the <it>P </it>≤ 0.05 level in bovine tuberculosis (BTB)-infected and control animals, of which 244 were expressed at lower levels (65%) in the infected group. Lower relative expression of key innate immune genes, including the Toll-like receptor 2 (<it>TLR2</it>) and <it>TLR4 </it>genes, lack of differential expression of indicator adaptive immune gene transcripts (<it>IFNG, IL2, IL4</it>), and lower <it>BOLA </it>major histocompatibility complex – class I (<it>BOLA</it>) and class II (<it>BOLA-DRA</it>) gene expression was consistent with innate immune gene repression in the BTB-infected animals. Supervised hierarchical cluster analysis and class prediction validation identified a panel of 15 genes predictive of disease status and selected gene transcripts were validated (<it>n </it>= 8 per group) by real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that large-scale expression profiling can identify gene signatures of disease in peripheral blood that can be used to classify animals on the basis of <it>in vivo </it>infection, in the absence of exogenous antigenic stimulation.</p

Seroconversion against antigen MPB83 in badgers (Meles meles) vaccinated with multiple doses of BCG strain Sofia

International audienceSerological diagnosis of Mycobacterium bovis infection in badgers (Meles meles) has relied primarily on antibody recognition of MPB83, a sero-dominant antigen of M. bovis. Most vaccine studies in badgers to date have used the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Danish strain, a low producer of MPB83. Due to a supply shortage of the BCG Danish strain, the BCG Sofia SL222 strain has been considered as an alternative vaccine. This strain is a high producer of MPB83 raising the possibility that vaccinated animals will test sero-positive in diagnostic assays that use this antigen. In this study we vaccinated a group of eleven badgers with BCG Sofia SL222 by injection via the intramuscular route and a booster vaccine dose was similarly delivered at 12 weeks and 64 weeks. Primary vaccination did not result in measured detection of antibodies against MPB83 in any badger during the first twelve weeks using serum or whole blood tested by the Dual Path Platform (DPP) VetTB, however, MPB83 antibodies were detected in a semi-quantitative ELISA assay. Following delivery of booster BCG at 12 weeks and 64 weeks, antibody responses against MPB83 were recorded in badgers using whole blood and serum on DPP VetTB and by ELISA. At all time points, vaccination was also associated with the in vitro production of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) following stimulation of lymphocytes with bovine and avian tuberculin (PPD) but not with MPB83 or M. bovis specific antigen CFP-10. The results indicate that serological diagnosis of tuberculosis using tests that target MPB83 may be compromised if badgers are repeatedly vaccinated with BCG Sofia

A longitudinal study of cattle found positive to the interferon g assay for Mycobacterium bovis infection: preliminary findings

Department of Agriculture, Food and the MarineTeagascDeposited by bulk impor

Tuberculosis in cattle and its control: limitations to the use of the interferon-gamma assay in attested herds

Department of Agriculture, Food and the MarineTeagascDeposited by bulk impor

Trophic enrichment factors for blood serum in the European badger (Meles meles).

Ecologists undertaking stable isotopic analyses of animal diets require trophic enrichment factors (TEFs) for the specific animal tissues that they are studying. Such basic data are available for a small number of species, so values from trophically or phylogenetically similar species are often substituted for missing values. By feeding a controlled diet to captive European badgers (Meles meles) we determined TEFs for carbon and nitrogen in blood serum. TEFs for nitrogen and carbon in blood serum were +3.0 ± 0.4‰ and +0.4 ± 0.1‰ respectively. The TEFs for serum in badgers are notably different from those published for the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). There is currently no data for TEFs in the serum of other mustelid species. Our data show that species sharing similar niches (red fox) do not provide adequate proxy values for TEFs of badgers. Our findings emphasise the importance of having species-specific data when undertaking trophic studies using stable isotope analysis

Stable isotopic values of serum from captive badgers fed a diet of biscuits and peanuts.

<p>These plots use trophic enrichment factors (TEFs) derived from three captive animals fed on a biscuit-only diet. The TEF for each dietary source is represented by a mean and standard deviation for both axes (δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C), plotted using SIAR <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0053071#pone.0053071-Parnell1" target="_blank">[2]</a>. Additional data for earthworms are provided for comparison. a. May 2008 (16 badgers). b. June 2008 (10 badgers). c. July 2008 (10 badgers).</p

Mean isotopic changes for δ¹³C after lipid extraction (including P values and sample sizes from comparison T-tests) of dog biscuits, peanuts and badger blood serum and badger red blood cells (RBCs).

<p>Reported values are provided with only one decimal place, to reflect the accuracy and precision of the analytical machinery.</p

Mean isotopic values for δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C (lipid extracted) obtained from serum of three captive badgers fed on a controlled diet for one month, and the calculated trophic enrichment factors (TEF) for each animal.

<p>Isotopic values (with corrections for lipid extraction) are the mean of three samples for each badger and nine samples of biscuit. Reported values are provided with only one decimal place, to reflect the accuracy and precision of the analytical machinery. TEFs for serum were calculated by subtracting the mean stable isotopic values of the diet (biscuits) from that of serum.</p

Innate gene repression associated with infection in cattle: toward a gene signature of disease-0

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Innate gene repression associated with infection in cattle: toward a gene signature of disease"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/8/400</p><p>BMC Genomics 2007;8():400-400.</p><p>Published online 31 Oct 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2213678.</p><p></p>ected (A) and healthy control cattle (B). The lymphocyte and monocyte subpopulations are retained in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)

Innate gene repression associated with infection in cattle: toward a gene signature of disease-4

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Innate gene repression associated with infection in cattle: toward a gene signature of disease"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/8/400</p><p>BMC Genomics 2007;8():400-400.</p><p>Published online 31 Oct 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2213678.</p><p></p>ected (A) and healthy control cattle (B). The lymphocyte and monocyte subpopulations are retained in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)