Comparison of two agar gel immunodiffusion protocols for diagnosing equine infectious anemia.

This study compared agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) protocols for diagnosing equine infectious anemia. Two commercial testing kits were used: one following the Japanese Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control and one following the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) manual. From 651 samples tested, both protocols gave identical results for 647 samples (23 samples tested positive; 624 tested negative). Non-specific reactions were observed in 21 samples testing negative by the Japanese protocol, but none were observed with the OIE protocol. The kappa coefficient value was 0.962, indicating almost perfect agreement between the two protocols. This study found no difference in diagnostic agreement between the two protocols, but the OIE protocol produced non-specific reactions less frequently than the Japanese protocol.

Anti-allergic potential of oligomannose-coated liposome-entrapped Cry j 1 as immunotherapy for Japanese cedar pollinosis in mice.

Administration of oligomannose-coated liposomes (OMLs) in mice can induce Th1 immune responses against antigens entrapped in the OMLs. In the present study, we investigated the anti-allergic effect of treatment with oligomannose-coated liposomes (OMLs) with entrapped Cry j 1, a major allergen of Japanese cedar pollen (Cry j 1/OMLs), in Balb/c mice sensitized with Cry j 1. Pretreatment of unsensitized mice with Cry j 1/OMLs repressed the elevation of total and allergen-specific IgE levels in sera elicited in response to subsequent sensitization with Cry j 1. Cry j 1-specific IgG1 in sera also decreased in Cry j 1/OML-treated mice, while the levels of Cry j 1-specific IgG2a in these mice significantly increased after sensitization with Cry j 1. In addition, Cry j 1/OML-treated mice showed high IFN-gamma production from spleen cells and low IL-4/IFN-gamma and IL-5/IFN-gamma ratios in response to in vitro stimulation with Cry j 1. These results indicate that allergen-specific Th1 immune responses predominate over Th2 responses and control IgE elevation in Cry j 1/OML-treated mice. The anti-allergic effect of Cry j 1/OML determined by suppression of serum IgE levels was also observed in Cry j 1-presensitized mice after challenge with antigen. Thus, Cry j 1/OMLs may be useful for immunotherapeutic control of allergic reactions to Japanese cedar pollinosis.