Comparative evaluation of DNA extraction kit, matrix sample and qPCR assays for bovine babesiosis monitoring.

Bovine babesiosis caused by protozoan parasites Babesia bovis and B. bigemina is one of the most important causes of losses for the livestock industry in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Therefore, highly sensitive and specific tools for these hemoparasites detection and monitoring are required, especially in carrier animals, in which low parasite levels were usually present. In this context, qPCR assays have been successfully and fairly used in last years. Aiming to improve the performance of Babesia levels monitoring by qPCR, some of main aspects of this methodology that may influence results were tested: DNA extraction kits, whole blood EDTA pre-treatment, blood source (tip of tail or jugular vein), erythrocytes isolation, FTA card interference and qPCR system of detection. Under our experimental conditions, both EDTA pre-treatment and FTA card application have no influence on the sensitivity of detection, and two DNA extraction kits provided higher sensitivity compared to others. As expected, blood samples collected from the tip of tail vessels presented higher levels of B. bovis DNA compared to those obtained from the jugular vein, and erythrocytes processed isolated has also improved the sensitivity compared to whole blood. Moreover, both qPCR assays here developed using hydrolysis probes for B. bovis and B. bigemina detection, presented enhanced reproducibility compared to qPCR assays using intercalating dye system. Even, qPCR for B. bigemina using hydrolysis probe here developed presented higher sensitivity compared to intercalating dye system. This study has contributed to the improvement of molecular diagnosis of bovine babesiosis, which may improve epidemiological studies related to these pathogens.

A polymorphic CD4 epitope related to increased susceptibility to Babesia bovis in Canchim calves.

Different allelic forms of bovine CD4 were previously described in cattle and were also observed in Canchim calves examined in the present experiment. However, the functional relevance of these different CD4 phenotypes has not yet been investigated. CD4 + T helper cells are known to play a central role in immune control against Babesia bovis infection. Thus, our study aimed to compare the profiles of immune cells, specific antibody titers and blood infection levels measured by qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) in calves naturally infected with B. bovis, phenotyped as CD4- (absence of anti-CD4 staining), CD4 + (intermediate staining) or CD4 ++ (high staining). The CD4 mRNA precursor was also measured in these animals. Calves with the CD4- phenotype showed higher amounts of B. bovis DNA in blood samples, compared to the other CD4 phenotypes. It was also observed that these calves with higher levels of infection had lower amounts of natural killer cells and higher expression of the CD4 gene, which can be interpreted as a compensation for the failure of the altered CD4 receptor to recognize relevant B. bovis epitopes.

Elimination of erroneous results related to bovine mononuclear cell immunophenotyping by antibodies binding to Fc receptors.

Blocking immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding receptors on leukocytes is an established and highly recommended preventive procedure for immunological assays. Failing to prevent such nonspecific binding can lead to erroneous results. Several studies testing different blocking reagents have been performed in murine or human cells, however, there are no specific studies on bovine cells. Our study aimed to investigate the efficiency of blocking reagents to inhibit the nonspecific binding of mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to bovine peripheral blood cells. We observed nonspecific interactions of IgG2a and IgG2b negative isotypes with bovine leukocytes, but not IgG1. We found that these nonspecific bindings could be eliminated by blocking with purified mouse IgG, whereas little or no blocking effect was observed when bovine serum or Mouse Seroblock FcR were applied. Moreover, in the absence of an efficient blocking reagent, the percentage of CD335 positive cells was significantly higher than in the group previously blocked with mouse IgG. Based on these results, and due to the lack of specific commercial blocking reagents for bovine cells, our recommendation is to use purified mouse IgG as a blocking reagent for immune assays targeting bovine leukocytes in order to enhance the accuracy of the results.