Browsing by Author "Hundt, Jana"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Effect of injected dexamethasone on relative cytokine mRNA expression in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in horses with mild asthma
    (2019-11-06) Bond, Stephanie L; Hundt, Jana; Léguillette, Renaud
    Abstract Background Mild equine asthma is a common inflammatory airway disease of the horse. The primary treatment of mild equine asthma is corticosteroids. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of injected dexamethasone on relative IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p35, IL-17, IL-23, IFN-γ, Eotaxin-2 and TNF-α mRNA expression in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid in healthy Thoroughbred horses (n = 6), and those with mild equine asthma (n = 7). Results Horses with mild equine asthma had a significantly greater bronchoalveolar lavage mast cell percentage than healthy horses both before and after treatment. Mild equine asthma was associated with a 4.95-fold up-regulation of IL-17 (p = 0.026) and a 2.54-fold down-regulation of IL-10 (p = 0.049) compared to healthy horses. TNF-α was down-regulated in response to dexamethasone treatment in both healthy horses (3.03-fold, p = 0.023) and those with mild equine asthma (1.75-fold, p = 0.023). IL-5 was also down-regulated in horses with mild asthma (2.17-fold, p = 0.048). Conclusions Horses with mild equine asthma have a lower concentration of IL-10 in BAL fluid than healthy controls which concurs with human asthmatics. The marked up-regulation of IL-17 in horses with mild asthma suggests these horses had a true tendency of “allergic” airway inflammation in response to environmental allergens. Dexamethasone administration exerted anti-inflammatory effects associated with down-regulation of TNF-α in all horses, and decreased levels of IL-5 mRNA expression in horses with mild equine asthma. The inhibition of the Th-2 response, without any alterations to the airway cytology, indicates that maintained exposure to environmental allergens perpetuates airway inflammation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Lytic Reactivation of Porcine Lymphotropic Herpesvirus 3
    (University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Luu, Gia; Hundt, Jana; Rowell, Jared; Czub, Markus
    Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has infected more 90% of the world’s population, and is the cause of 2% of all neoplasms globally. In pigs, a closely related gammaherpes virus was identified called Porcine Lymphotrophic Herpesvirus 3 (PLHV3), that also causes lymphoproliferative disorders that resemble those caused by EBV. The purpose of this research is to generate a high titer viral stock of PLHV3 by shifting the viral life cycle from latency to lytic replication using baculovirus expression systems (BEVS) in latently infected cell lines. Infected lymphoblastic cell lines (LCL) will be infected with baculovirus vector carrying two PLHV3 immediate early genes that are crucial for lytic reactivation, BZLF1 and BRLF1. These immediate early genes will become expressed after the infection to produce recombinant proteins in high quantity, thus allowing viral reactivation. BZLF1, BRLF1 and an appropriate mammalian promoter will be cloned into the vector using PCR cloning. Acquiring a high titer viral stock will allow the generation of a chimeric PLHV3-EBV virus that could be used to establish a porcine model for studying EBV.