Induction of parturition in a large number of pregnant dairy goats and its benefits as a management tool in a commercial scale goat operation.

At LFB USA, Inc., transgenic goats are utilized for the production of recombinant human protein therapeutics in their milk through the rPRO™ Technology platform. This retrospective analysis and report describes the results of induced parturition and its use as a management tool in this large herd of dairy goats. Over a three-year period, 342 does received pronuclear microinjected (MI) embryos transferred into the oviductal lumen via midline laparotomy (day 1). To initiate the induction process, does were given intramuscular injections (IM) of 10 mg each of prostaglandin (Lutalyse®) and dexamethasone to induce parturition on days 144-148 of pregnancy. Mean and Standard Deviation (±SD) time to parturition was 36.7 (±6.5) hours. Does were given these injections at 4pm on Sundays with an expected kidding time of late Monday into Tuesday morning. Of the 342 does, 333 or 97% had kidded by 3pm the following Tuesday, and 313 or 91% kidded in the 18 h between 9pm Monday and 3pm on Tuesday or between 29 and 47 h post induction. By the end of Tuesday, most kids had received colostrum and were transferred to the nursery. The incidences of kid mortality and retained placenta were 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively, clearly achieving a priority at this commercial operation for generating a high percentage of live kids (97.5%) of marked value being produced. The use of induced parturition allowed this large dairy operation to designate two 9-h time blocks in which to concentrate parturition times within the herd. This facilitated strategic scheduling to optimize availability of staff, in order to assist with parturition, separate kids from the dam at birth, and ensure adequate and prompt feeding of colostrum. Predicting the time of kidding in this way can serve as an effective management tool, especially to help reduce kid mortality and prevent disease spread by restricting suckling of colostrum.

Transgenic goats producing an improved version of cetuximab in milk.

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent one of the most important classes of pharmaceutical proteins to treat human diseases. Most are produced in cultured mammalian cells which is expensive, limiting their availability. Goats, striking a good balance between a relatively short generation time and copious milk yield, present an alternative platform for the cost-effective, flexible, large-scale production of therapeutic mAbs. Here, we focused on cetuximab, a mAb against epidermal growth factor receptor, that is commercially produced under the brand name Erbitux and approved for anti-cancer treatments. We generated several transgenic goat lines that produce cetuximab in their milk. Two lines were selected for detailed characterization. Both showed stable genotypes and cetuximab production levels of up to 10 g/L. The mAb could be readily purified and showed improved characteristics compared to Erbitux. The goat-produced cetuximab (gCetuximab) lacked a highly immunogenic epitope that is part of Erbitux. Moreover, it showed enhanced binding to CD16 and increased antibody-dependent cell-dependent cytotoxicity compared to Erbitux. This indicates that these goats produce an improved cetuximab version with the potential for enhanced effectiveness and better safety profile compared to treatments with Erbitux. In addition, our study validates transgenic goats as an excellent platform for large-scale production of therapeutic mAbs.

Johne's disease: a successful eradication programme in a dairy goat herd.

This retrospective analysis and report describes the successful eradication and posteradication surveillance programme for Johne's disease (Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP)) in a closed herd of dairy goats. In 1994, MAP's presence in the goat herd was first suspected through individual annual serological screening and then subsequently confirmed through faecal culture and histopathology in 1997 when implementation of a more aggressive programme of testing and eradication of the diseased animals began. This programme included frequent serological screening of all adult goats using ELISA and agar gel immunodiffusion assays. Faecal cultures for bacteria were performed on suspect or positive animals and for all goats found dead or euthanased, and tissues were submitted for histopathology and acid-fast staining. Additional disease eradication measures included maintaining a closed herd and minimising faecal-oral transmission of MAP. Following a more aggressive testing regimen and euthanasia of goats with positive faecal culture, the herd was first considered free of MAP in 2003 and has remained free to the present day.

Goat embryonic stem-like cell derivation and characterization.

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are derived from the inner cell masses of preimplantation embryos. ES cells are pluripotent cells with the capacity for long-term propagation and broad differentiation plasticity. These cells have an exceptional functional feature in that they can differentiate into all tissues and organs, including germ cells. Established ES cell lines have been generated in mouse, human, and nonhuman primate but derivation of ES cells in farm animals has been problematic. Several ES-like cell lines from farm animals have been reported to exhibit properties of pluripotency in vitro. However, only a few of them morphologically resemble ES cells, or express markers that are associated with established ES cell lines from mouse and humans. Methods for derivation, propagation, and differentiation of ES cells from domestic animals have not been fully established. In this chapter, we describe methods for isolation of goat ES (gES) cell lines from in vivo-derived blastocysts and characterization of markers indicative of pluripotency. In addition, we outline differentiation of gES cells into all three germ layers in vivo by forming teratomas as a hallmark of pluripotency.

Production of recombinant albumin by a herd of cloned transgenic cattle.

Purified plasma derived human albumin has been available as a therapeutic product since World War II. However, cost effective recombinant production of albumin has been challenging due to the amount needed and the complex folding pattern of the protein. In an effort to provide an abundant source of recombinant albumin, a herd of transgenic cows expressing high levels of rhA in their milk was generated. Expression cassettes efficiently targeting the secretion of human albumin to the lactating mammary gland were obtained and tested in transgenic mice. A high expressing transgene was transfected in primary bovine cell lines to produce karyoplasts for use in a somatic cell nuclear transfer program. Founder transgenic cows were produced from four independent cell lines. Expression levels varying from 1-2 g/l to more than 40 g/l of correctly folded albumin were observed. The animals expressing the highest levels of rhA exhibited shortened lactation whereas cows yielding 1-2 g/l had normal milk production. This herd of transgenic cattle is an easily scalable and well characterized source of rhA for biomedical uses.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated transduction of male germ line stem cells results in transgene transmission after germ cell transplantation.

We explored whether exposure of mammalian germ line stem cells to adeno-associated virus (AAV), a gene therapy vector, would lead to stable transduction and transgene transmission. Mouse germ cells harvested from experimentally induced cryptorchid donor testes were exposed in vitro to AAV vectors carrying a GFP transgene and transplanted to germ cell-depleted syngeneic recipient testes, resulting in colonization of the recipient testes by transgenic donor cells. Mating of recipient males to wild-type females yielded 10% transgenic offspring. To broaden the approach to nonrodent species, AAV-transduced germ cells from goats were transplanted to recipient males in which endogenous germ cells had been depleted by fractionated testicular irradiation. Transgenic germ cells colonized recipient testes and produced transgenic sperm. When semen was used for in vitro fertilization (IVF), 10% of embryos were transgenic. Here, we report for the first time that AAV-mediated transduction of mammalian germ cells leads to transmission of the transgene through the male germ line. Equally important, this is also the first report of transgenesis via germ cell transplantation in a nonrodent species, a promising approach to generate transgenic large animal models for biomedical research.

Reestablishment of a transgenic rabbit line by artificial insemination using cryopreserved semen.

The production of recombinant proteins in the milk of transgenic animals is an alternative to traditional cell culture methodology. Transgenic rabbits can serve in the small-scale production of recombinant proteins, underscoring the need to maintain valuable transgenic lines. In this study, the authors used cryopreserved transgenic rabbit semen to artificially inseminate does, demonstrating the utility of this method for the reestablishment of a transgenic rabbit herd.

Viable transgenic goats derived from skin cells.

The current study was undertaken to evaluate the possibility of expanding transgenic goat herds by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer (NT) using transgenic goat cells as nucleus donors. Skin cells from adult, transgenic goats were first synchronized at quiescent stage (G0) by serum starvation and then induced to exit G0 and proceed into G1. Oocytes collected from superovulated donors were enucleated, karyoplast-cytoplast couplets were constructed, and then fused and activated simultaneously by a single electrical pulse. Fused couplets were either co-cultured with oviductal cells in TCM-199 medium (in vitro culture) or transferred to intermediate recipient goat oviducts (in vivo culture) until final transfer. The resulting morulae and blastocysts were transferred to the final recipients. Pregnancies were confirmed by ultrasonography 25-30 days after embryo transfer. In vitro cultured NT embryos developed to morulae and blastocyst stages but did not produce any pregnancies while 30% (6/20) of the in vivo derived morulae and blastocysts produced pregnancies. Two of these pregnancies were resorbed early in gestation. Of the four recipients that maintained pregnancies to term, two delivered dead fetuses 2-3 days after their due dates, and two recipients gave birth to healthy kids at term. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis confirmed that both kids were transgenic and had integration sites consistent with those observed in the adult cell line.

Competitive-inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of serum antibodies to caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus: diagnostic tool for successful eradication.

A competitive-inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) was evaluated for the detection of serum antibodies to the surface envelope (SU) of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) in goats. This assay utilized 96-well microtiter plates containing CAEV-63 SU captured by monoclonal antibody (MAb) F7-299 and measured the competitive displacement of horseradish peroxidase-conjugated MAb GPB 74A binding by undiluted goat sera (F. Ozyörük, W. P. Cheevers, G. A. Hullinger, T. C. McGuire, M. Hutton, and D. P. Knowles, Clin. Diagn. Lab. Immunol. 8:44-51, 2001). Two hundred serum samples from goats in the United States were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of cELISA based on the immunoprecipitation (IP) of [(35)S]methionine-labeled viral antigens as a standard of comparison. A positive cELISA was defined as >33.2% inhibition of MAb 74A binding based on 2 standard deviations above the mean percent inhibition of 140 IP-negative serum samples. At this cutoff value, there were 0 of 60 false-negative sera (100% sensitivity) and 5 of 140 false-positive sera (96.4% specificity). Additional studies utilized IP-monitored cELISA to establish a CAEV-free herd of 1,640 dairy goats.