Pigeon Fever is an equine disease caused by Corynebacterium psuedotuberculosis. It manifests itself in three forms; external abscesses, internal abscesses, and ulcerative lymphangitis. The hypothesis is that the different manifestations of the disease are due to differences in TH1 versus TH2 responses in infected horses. ELISA tests were used to determine the antibody response to phospholipase D (PLD), the antigen produced by the bacteria. Current diagnostic tools state that horses with internal abscesses have high titers to PLD and horses with external abscesses have low titers. Our results show that while most horses with internal abscesses show high antibody responses to PLD, many horses with external abscesses and some uninfected horses also show high titers to PLD. Another possible tool for diagnosing and studying this disease is by typing monoclonal antibodies to determine the class and subclasses of anti-PLD antibodies being produced to test whether TH1 or TH2 induced antibodies predominate. These monoclonal antibodies have been made by R. Pollock and her colleagues and some have been typed; additional typing of these antibodies will be done by an Advanced Placement Biology class. In doing so, students will not only be able to learn about the immune response in the context of this disease, but actually contribute to an ongoing "real" research project.
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