M atrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) encompasses a family of secreted, calcium dependent, zinc containing endopeptidases. These enzymes are responsible for tissue remodelling and are capable of degrading all kinds of extracellular matrix proteins including collagens, matrix glycoproteins, gelatin, elastins, and proteoglycans. MMPs are involved in regulation of cell behaviours like cellular differentiation, proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, and apoptosis. Thus, these enzymes have multi-factorial roles during tumor progression: promoting establishment, tumor cell exfoliation, invasion and angiogenesis. The degradation of extracellular matrix components is crucial for tumor cell invasion and MMPs, especially MMP2 (72 kDa gelatinase A) and MMP9 (92 kDa gelatinase B), play critical role in degradation of gelatin and type IV collagen, the two major constituents of extracellular matrix. Short CommunicationAbstract | Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP) 2 & 9 are overexpressed in wide variety of cancers and play important roles in tumour cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Tissue and serum levels of MMP2 and MMP9 correlate with disease prognosis. Real-time PCR is emerging as an alternative or supplementary technique to immunohistochemistry (IHC) for sensitive detection of tumour markers in tissues. Therefore, in this study real-time PCR assays were standardized for detecting over-expression of MMP2 and MMP9 in canine mammary tumour (CMT). Primers designed for real-time PCR analysis of MMP2 & MMP9 were specific as indicated by amplification plots and meltcurve analysis of amplicons. These amplicons showed sharply defined melting curves with single peaks at expected melting points. The over-expression of MMP2 and MMP9 was examined in 12 CMT tissues by real-time PCR analysis. Over-expression of MMP2 & MMP9 was observed in 58.3(7/12) and 41.6 % (5/12) cases of CMT respectively. Expression levels of MMP2 were 2.23±0.10 to 29.80±3.5 fold higher and for MMP2, 1.5±0.56 to 22.67±2.35 fold higher in cases of CMT than normal mammary gland biopsy. Approximately 33.3 % (4/12) of CMT tissues showed co-expression of both MMP2 and MMP9. Further studies are required to correlate MMP2 and MMP9 expression levels with CMT prognosis.

In this study, a total of 120 non purposive serum samples (Cows-68; Bullocks-32; Bulls-20) randomly collected from different breeds of bovine (Cross breed-41; Indigenous-61 and Nondescript -18) in six districts (Bargarh-40; Angul-15, Koraput-22, Boudh-14, Nayagarh-11, Jagatsinghpur-18) of Odisha by field veterinary officers during surveys from April to May 2013 were included. These samples were tested at 1:100 dilution in microscopic agglutination test (MAT) using live antigens of 14 reference leptospiral serovars in order to investigate the seroprevalence of bovine leptospirosis. The overall seroprevalence of 42.5% (51/120=CI: 95% 34.0 to 51.4) with 48.5% in cows, 28.1% in bullocks and 45.0% in bulls was observed. The overall analysis of chi-square test revealed that seroprevalance in bovine are associated with age (2 =5.78, p<0.10), whereas not associated with breed type and health status. Among the targeted districts, high prevalence was observed in Nayagarh (81.8%) followed by Bargarh (47.5%), Jagatsinghpur (44.4 %) and Boudh (42.8%). In general, the prevalence across the sample regions was significant (2 =12.45, p<0.05) indicating the prevalalence was associated with regions. Out of 51 reacted sera, 13 samples showed reactivity with more than one serovars representing 25.5%. The predominant leptospiral antibodies determined against frequency distribution of the serovars were: Australis (50.9%); Hardjo (23.5%); Canicola, Tarassovi and Kaup (7.8%); Pomona, Hurstbridge (5.9%); Bankinang, Javanica, Hebdomadis and Pyrogenes (3.9%); and Icterohaemorrhagiae, Grippotyphosa and Shermani (2.0%). This study supports that bovines may have a role in maintaining Australis serovar apart from being a well known reservoir for Hardjo serovar in Odisha state, India

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This cross-sectional serosurvey outlines the seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in small ruminants in the hilly terrain northeastern state of Sikkim in India. A total of 776 small ruminants' (sheep [n = 99] and goats [n = 677]) serum samples were collected from 62 epidemiological units (epi-units) of the state using a two-stage sampling method from September 2017 to February 2018. The collected sera were screened for the small ruminant morbillivirus (SRMV) antibodies using a PPR-competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA). The results showed 1.16% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.61-2.19%) apparent prevalence with almost zero calculated true prevalence, which implies the insignificant prevalence of SRMV antibodies in the small ruminants population. Further, only a few samples from <5 % epi-units have shown positive for SRMV antibodies with an overall seropositive of <30% in the surveyed epi-units in Sikkim. This report is first of its kind on the seroprevalence of PPR in a unique niche of hilly terrain settings and it implies that SRMV has not yet become established in the small ruminants in Sikkim, despite the enzootic nature of the disease in the rest of India. This necessitates the imposing of strict quarantine measures and restrictions in the small ruminants trade along with the implementation of the intensive active surveillance programme to make a PPR free state.

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