Peripheral and placental immune responses in sheep after experimental infection with "Toxoplasma gondii" at the three terms of gestation

P. 1-9Although it is known that gestation could infuence the clinical course of ovine toxoplasmosis, the precise efect of the term of gestation when sheep are infected are yet mostly unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the peripheral and placental immune responses developed in pregnant sheep after experimental infection with Toxoplasma gondiiat diferent times of gestation. Thirty‑six pregnant sheep were allocated in diferent groups, orally inocu‑lated with sporulated oocysts of T. gondiiat early, mid and late gestation and culled within 30 days post‑infection. The peripheral humoral and cytokine responses were evaluated, as well as the transcription of cytokines at the placenta. Serological analysis revealed that, regardless the term of gestation when infected, specifc IgG against T. gondiiwere detected from day 8 post‑infection and there was an early peripheral release of IFN‑γ at the frst week post‑infection followed by a short peak of IL10 and TNF‑α at the second week post‑infection. There were no signifcant diferences in this response between infected groups. At the placenta, a similar increase in transcription of IFN‑γ, and TNF‑α was found at the three terms of gestation, while IL‑4 increased mainly at the frst and second terms and IL‑10 transcription was higher at the last term. While these fndings show that both Th1 and Th2 cytokines play a key role in the patho‑genesis of ovine toxoplasmosis and that placental and peripheral immune responses do not closely correlate, there seems to be no clear modulation of these responses along the gestation.S

HisAK70: Progress towards a vaccine against different forms of leishmaniosis

Background: Leishmania major and Leishmania infantum are among the main species that are responsible for cutaneous leishmaniosis (CL) and visceral leishmaniosis (VL), respectively. The leishmanioses represent the second-largest parasitic killer in the world after malaria. Recently, we succeeded in generating a plasmid DNA (pCMV-HISA70m2A) and demonstrated that immunized mice were protected against L. major challenge. The efficacy of the DNA-vaccine was further enhanced by the inclusion of KMP-11 antigen into the antibiotic-free plasmid pVAX1-asd. Methods: Here, we describe the use of a HisAK70 DNA-vaccine encoding seven Leishmania genes (H2A, H2B, H3, H4, A2, KMP11 and HSP70) for vaccination of mice to assess the induction of a resistant phenotype against VL and CL. Results: HisAK70 was successful in vaccinated mice, resulting in a high amount of efficient sterile hepatic granulomas associated with a hepatic parasite burden fully resolved in the VL model; and resulting in 100 % inhibition of parasite visceralization in the CL model. Conclusions: The results suggest that immunization with the HisAK70 DNA-vaccine may provide a rapid, suitable, and efficient vaccination strategy to confer cross-protective immunity against VL and CL.This work was partially supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AGL2010-17394 and AGL2013-44100R) and PLATESA (P2013/ABI-2906) from the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain).Peer Reviewe

Interactions between marine megafauna and plastic pollution in Southeast Asia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record Southeast (SE) Asia is a highly biodiverse region, yet it is also estimated to cumulatively contribute a third of the total global marine plastic pollution. This threat is known to have adverse impacts on marine megafauna, however, understanding of its impacts has recently been highlighted as a priority for research in the region. To address this knowledge gap, a structured literature review was conducted for species of cartilaginous fishes, marine mammals, marine reptiles, and seabirds present in SE Asia, collating cases on a global scale to allow for comparison, coupled with a regional expert elicitation to gather additional published and grey literature cases which would have been omitted during the structured literature review. Of the 380 marine megafauna species present in SE Asia, but also studied elsewhere, we found that 9.1 % and 4.5 % of all publications documenting plastic entanglement (n = 55) and ingestion (n = 291) were conducted in SE Asian countries. At the species level, published cases of entanglement from SE Asian countries were available for 10 % or less of species within each taxonomic group. Additionally, published ingestion cases were available primarily for marine mammals and were lacking entirely for seabirds in the region. The regional expert elicitation led to entanglement and ingestion cases from SE Asian countries being documented in 10 and 15 additional species respectively, highlighting the utility of a broader approach to data synthesis. While the scale of the plastic pollution in SE Asia is of particular concern for marine ecosystems, knowledge of its interactions and impacts on marine megafauna lags behind other areas of the world, even after the inclusion of a regional expert elicitation. Additional funding to help collate baseline data are critically needed to inform policy and solutions towards limiting the interactions of marine megafauna and plastic pollution in SE Asia.National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office (Singapore) and the Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom)National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office (Singapore) and the Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom

Effects of challenge dose and inoculation route of virulent Neospora caninum Nc-Spain7 isolate in pregnant cattle at mid gestation

Trabajo presentado al: 4th International Meeting on Apicomplexa in Farm Animals. (11-14 October 2017 - Madrid, Spain).Peer Reviewe