Comparative immunosecretome analysis of prevalent Streptococcus suis serotypes.

Streptococcus suis is a major Gram-positive swine pathogen associated with a wide variety of diseases in pigs. The efforts made to develop vaccines against this pathogen have failed because of lack of common cross-reactive antigens against different serotypes. Nowadays the interest has moved to surface and secreted proteins, as they have the highest chances to raise an effective immune response because they are in direct contact with host cells and are really exposed and accessible to antibodies. In this work, we have performed a comparative immunosecretomic approach to identify a set of immunoreactive secreted proteins common to the most prevalent serotypes of S. suis. Among the 67 proteins identified, three (SSU0020, SSU0934, and SSU0215) were those predicted extracellular proteins most widely found within the studied serotypes. These immunoreactive proteins may be interesting targets for future vaccine development as they could provide possible cross-reactivity among different serotypes of this pathogen.

Comparative therapeutic effect of steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on pro-inflammatory cytokine production in water buffalo calves (Bubalus bubalis) naturally infected with bronchopneumonia: a randomized clinical trial.

In the current study, we compared the therapeutic effects of a non-steroidal and a steroidal anti-inflammatory drug on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-12p40 (IL-12p40), interferon gamma (IFNγ), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the blood of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves naturally infected by bronchopneumonia. Twenty-seven buffalo calves (7 ± 2-month-old, 163 ± 12 kg) reared in smallholder farms in El-Dakahlia province in Egypt were identified to have bronchopneumonia and randomly allocated into three equal groups. Ten clinically healthy buffalo calves with negative bronchoalveolar lavage results were served as negative control. Diseased calves were treated with tulathromycin alone, a combination of tulathromycin with dexamethasone (steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) or tulathromycin with flunixin meglumine (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). The results revealed significant elevations (P < 0.05) in the production of selected cytokines in all diseased calves in comparison with healthy animals. Six days post-treatment, a significant inhibition (P < 0.05) in the production of all assessed cytokines was observed in the blood of all treated calves. Interestingly, the serum concentrations of IL-1ß and IL-12p40 were returned to the normal levels in pneumonic calves treated with the combination therapy of tulathromycin and flunixin meglumine. A strong significant positive correlation (P < 0.05) was detected between clinical sum scoring and IL-12p40 and TNF-α concentrations. The obtained results indicate the selectively potent anti-inflammatory effect of flunixin meglumine on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in pneumonic buffalo calves and highlight the efficacy of flunixin meglumine in the treatment of bronchopneumonia in buffalo calves when used in combination with tulathromycin.

Expression of early and late adenoviral proteins in fatal adenovirus bronchopneumonia.

The localization and distribution of three adenoviral proteins, hexon, E1A, and 55-kDa E1B, in 16 cases of fatal adenovirus bronchopneumonia in infants and children, are described. The proteins were immunohistochemically demonstrated in paraffin sections using monoclonal antibodies followed by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase method. The hexon antigen was present in inclusion-bearing bronchial, bronchiolar, and alveolar cells, mainly in the so-called rosette cells, as well as in necrotic debris in necrotizing areas. E1A antigen was also recognized in cells with nuclear inclusions where the reaction decorated the inclusion, nuclear chromatin, and cytoplasm but distributed mainly in alveolar cells and to a lesser extent in bronchial and bronchiolar cells. The 55-kDa E1B protein was extensively present in "activated," reactive-appearing, nuclei of bronchial, bronchiolar, and alveolar epithelial cells and in the cytoplasm of rare cells having nuclear inclusions. These activated nuclei did not stain for the other two antigens. "Smudge" cells reacted poorly or not at all with any of the antibodies. The reactivity found produced a sort of complementary pattern between the hexon-positive, inclusion-containing cells and the 55-kDa E1B-positive, inclusion-noncontaining cells. The relationships of present findings and virologic data are discussed.