Identification of Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate and Alcohol Dehydrogenases as Autoantigens in Doberman Hepatitis.

An autoimmune background is suspected for Doberman hepatitis (DH). It is based on the finding of mononuclear cell infiltrates in the liver, strong female bias, association to the homozygous risk factor dog leucocyte antigen (DLA) allele DRB1*00601 and aberrant major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression on hepatocytes that correlates with the degree of inflammation in the liver. The aim of this study was to search for autoantibodies against liver-related antigens associated with DH. Twenty-five Dobermans with subclinical DH (SDH), 13 that clinically manifest DH (CDH) and 17 healthy controls were studied. Immunoblotting analysis detected specific antibodies in the DH sera. By mass spectrometry the targets were identified as liver-related enzymes glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Using ELISA, anti-GAPDH IgG was detected in 36% (9/25) of SDH dogs and 69.2% (9/13) of the CDH dogs compared to healthy controls (0/17) (P < 0.0005). Anti-ADH IgG was detected in 72% (18/25) of SDH dogs and 76.9% (10/13) of CDH dogs and only in one (1/17) control (P < 0.0005). The finding of novel autoantigens, GAPDH and ADH strengthen the hypothesis that DH is an autoimmune disease of the liver. These findings suggest that DH could be diagnosed by screening for autoantibodies against the defined antigens.

Vaccine efficacy of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) from Edwardsiella ictaluri against E. tarda in tilapia.

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), derived from the outer-membrane protein (OMP) fraction, has been used as a potential candidate for vaccine development. The gene-encoding 37 kDa GAPDH outer membrane protein (OMP) from Edwardsiella ictaluri was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), Western blotting, and nucleotide and amino acid sequencing were used to analyze the expressed antigenic protein and gene encoding this protein. Comparative DNA and protein sequence analysis of GAPDH from E. ictaluri GAPDHs from several Gram-negative bacterial species within the Enterobacteriaceae family revealed that the GAPDHs within this group are highly conserved and share a sequence similarity of 75-100% with E. ictaluri GDPDH. Rabbit antiserum raised against the E. ictaluri recombinant GAPDH (rGAPDH) protein recognized purified GADPH, indicating that it has a strong immunogenicity. Tilapia fish were intraperitoneally immunized with formalin-killed E. ictaluri whole cells, and rGAPDH (30 µg fish(-1)) from E. ictaluri, both of which were emulsified in ISA 763A adjuvant. At 3 months after immunization, fish were challenged with the E. tarda strain to assess vaccine efficacy; the relative percent survival (RPS) values were found to exceed 71.4%. The specific mean antibody titer log2 level of groups vaccinated with rGAPDH at 3 months was significantly higher than that of non-vaccinated fish (control group). Therefore, this recombinant protein can be considered a multi-purpose candidate vaccine against several pathogenic bacteria.