Immunopeptidomic Analysis of BoLA-I and BoLA-DR Presented Peptides from Infected Cells.

The apicomplexan parasite Theileria parva is the causative agent of East Coast fever, usually a fatal disease for cattle, which is prevalent in large areas of eastern, central, and southern Africa. Protective immunity against T. parva is mediated by CD8+ T cells, with CD4+ T-cells thought to be important in facilitating the full maturation and development of the CD8+ T-cell response.

Antibodies that react with bovine T lymphocytes expressing the T cell receptor β chain subgroup BV20 inhibit antigen recognition.

In recent years, molecular studies have provided detailed information on the bovine T cell receptor (TCR) variable gene repertoire, both in resting T cells and during T cell responses. However, studies of the biological function of the receptor have been hampered by a lack of reagents that recognise the protein. Herein, we describe the characterisation of two antibodies (IL-A47 and IL-A98) that recognise T cells expressing the TCR VB20 subfamily of BV genes.

Inherited Tolerance in Cattle to the Apicomplexan Protozoan is Associated with Decreased Proliferation of Parasite-Infected Lymphocytes.

is the causative agent of East Coast fever and Corridor disease, which are fatal, economically important diseases of cattle in eastern, central and southern Africa. Improved methods of control of the diseases are urgently required. The parasite transforms host lymphocytes, resulting in a rapid, clonal expansion of infected cells.

Clinical Evaluation of Corridor Disease in (Boran) Cattle Naturally Infected With Buffalo-Derived .

Corridor disease (CD) is a fatal condition of cattle caused by buffalo-derived . Unlike the related condition, East Coast fever, which results from infection with cattle-derived , CD has not been extensively studied. We describe in detail the clinical and laboratory findings in cattle naturally infected with buffalo-derived .

CD4 T Cell Responses to in Immune Cattle Recognize a Diverse Set of Parasite Antigens Presented on the Surface of Infected Lymphoblasts.

Parasite-specific CD8 T cell responses play a key role in mediating immunity against in cattle (), and there is evidence that efficient induction of these responses requires CD4 T cell responses. However, information on the antigenic specificity of the CD4 T cell response is lacking. The current study used a high-throughput system for Ag identification using CD4 T cells from immune animals to screen a library of ∼40,000 synthetic peptides representing 499 gene products.

Antigenic Diversity in Populations From Sympatric Cattle and African Buffalo Analyzed Using Long Read Sequencing.

East Coast fever (ECF) in cattle is caused by the Apicomplexan protozoan parasite , transmitted by the three-host tick . The African buffalo () is the natural host for but does not suffer disease, whereas ECF is often fatal in cattle. The genetic relationship between populations circulating in cattle and buffalo is poorly understood, and has not been studied in sympatric buffalo and cattle.

High throughput analysis of MHC-I and MHC-DR diversity of Brazilian cattle populations.

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) contains many genes that play key roles in initiating and regulating immune responses. This includes the polymorphic MHCI and MHCII genes that present epitopes to CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells, respectively. Consequently, the characterisation of the repertoire of MHC genes is an important component of improving our understanding of the genetic variation that determines the outcomes of immune responses.

Integral Use of Immunopeptidomics and Immunoinformatics for the Characterization of Antigen Presentation and Rational Identification of BoLA-DR-Presented Peptides and Epitopes.

MHC peptide binding and presentation is the most selective event defining the landscape of T cell epitopes. Consequently, understanding the diversity of MHC alleles in a given population and the parameters that define the set of ligands that can be bound and presented by each of these alleles (the immunopeptidome) has an enormous impact on our capacity to predict and manipulate the potential of protein Ags to elicit functional T cell responses. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of MHC-eluted ligand data has proven to be a powerful technique for identifying such peptidomes, and methods integrating such data for prediction of Ag presentation have reached a high level of accuracy for both MHC class I and class II.

Hydrophobic Mycobacterial Antigens Elicit Polyfunctional T Cells in Immunized Cattle: Association With Protection Against Challenge?

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by , is a chronic disease of cattle with a detrimental impact on food quality and production. Research on bTB vaccines has predominantly been focused on proteinaceous antigens. However, mycobacteria have a thick and intricate lipid outer layer and lipids as well as lipopeptides are important for immune-evasion and virulence.

Capture-based enrichment of Theileria parva DNA enables full genome assembly of first buffalo-derived strain and reveals exceptional intra-specific genetic diversity.

Theileria parva is an economically important, intracellular, tick-transmitted parasite of cattle. A live vaccine against the parasite is effective against challenge from cattle-transmissible T. parva but not against genotypes originating from the African Cape buffalo, a major wildlife reservoir, prompting the need to characterize genome-wide variation within and between cattle- and buffalo-associated T.

Contrasting population genetics of co-endemic cattle- and buffalo- derived Theileria annulata.

A study was designed to improve understanding of the genetics of Theileria annulata populations in sympatric cattle and Asian buffalo (Bubalus bubalus). The study was undertaken in the Punjab province of Pakistan, where the prevalence of tropical theileriosis is high. Parasite materials were collected from infected animals in defined regions, where cattle and Asian buffalo are kept together.

Theileria parva: a parasite of African buffalo, which has adapted to infect and undergo transmission in cattle.

The tick-borne protozoan parasite Theileria parva causes an acute, often fatal disease in cattle throughout a large part of eastern and southern Africa. Infection of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is also widespread in this region but does not cause clinical disease in this species. This difference most likely reflects the evolutionary history of the parasites in these species, in that cattle were only introduced into Africa within the last 8000 years.

Development of a deep amplicon sequencing method to determine the species composition of piroplasm haemoprotozoa.

Piroplasmosis is caused by tick-borne haemoprotozoa of the genera Theileria and Babesia. These parasitic infections can seriously impact on the health of livestock and production. Piroplasms of multiple species can be present in a single host, but reliable molecular diagnostic tools are needed in order to understand the composition of these complex parasite communities.

Similar levels of diversity in the gene encoding the p67 sporozoite surface protein of Theileria parva are observed in blood samples from buffalo and cattle naturally infected from buffalo.

Theileria parva is a tick-transmitted, apicomplexan protozoan found in buffalo (Syncerus caffer) and cattle in eastern, central and southern Africa. The parasite causes a fatal, lymphoproliferative disease in susceptible cattle. Previous studies have shown that the parasites in buffalo comprise a more heterogeneous population than those in cattle, which has led to the concept that the population of parasites circulating in cattle represents a restricted subpopulation of those in buffalo.

Granzyme B Is an Essential Mediator in CD8 T Cell Killing of -Infected Cells.

There is established evidence that cytotoxic CD8 T cells are important mediators of immunity against the bovine intracellular protozoan parasite However, the mechanism by which the specific CD8 T cells kill parasitized cells is not understood. Although the predominant pathway used by human and murine CD8 T cells to kill pathogen-infected cells is granule exocytosis, involving the release of perforin and granzyme B, there is to date a lack of published information on the biological activities of bovine granzyme B. The present study set out to define the functional activities of bovine granzyme B and determine its role in mediating the killing of -parasitized cells.

Bovine Staphylococcus aureus Superantigens Stimulate the Entire T Cell Repertoire of Cattle.

Superantigens (SAgs) represent a diverse family of bacterial toxins that induce Vβ-specific T cell proliferation associated with an array of important diseases in humans and animals, including mastitis of dairy cows. However, an understanding of the diversity and distribution of SAg genes among bovine strains and their role in the pathogenesis of mastitis is lacking. Population genomic analysis of 195 bovine isolates representing 57 unique sequence types revealed that strains encode 2 to 13 distinct SAgs and that the majority of isolates contain 5 or more SAg genes.

Corrigendum to "Exposure of vaccinated and naive cattle to natural challenge from buffalo-derived Theileria parva" [Int. J. Parasitol. Parasites Wildl. 4(2) (2015) 244-251].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.

Identification and annotation of bovine granzyme genes reveals a novel granzyme encoded within the trypsin-like locus.

Granzymes are a family of serine proteases found in the lytic granules of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, which are involved in killing of susceptible target cells. Most information on granzymes and their enzymatic specificities derive from studies in humans and mice. Although granzymes shared by both species show a high level of conservation, the complement of granzyme genes differs between the species.

Theileria parva antigens recognized by CD8+ T cells show varying degrees of diversity in buffalo-derived infected cell lines.

The extent of sequence diversity among the genes encoding 10 antigens (Tp1-10) known to be recognized by CD8+ T lymphocytes from cattle immune to Theileria parva was analysed. The sequences were derived from parasites in 23 buffalo-derived cell lines, three cattle-derived isolates and one cloned cell line obtained from a buffalo-derived stabilate. The results revealed substantial variation among the antigens through sequence diversity.