Association of Bovine Leukocyte Antigen (BoLA) DRB3.2 with Immune Response, Mastitis, and Production and Type Traits in Canadian Holsteins

Abstract

Data collected from 328 Canadian Holsteins in a research herd at the University of Guelph were used to study associations among expression of bovine leukocyte antigen (BoLA) DRB3.2 alleles, immune response, mastitis resistance via somatic cell counts (SCC), and clinical mastitis, as well as to extend these results to production and type traits. Accordingly, groups of cows were evaluated in vivo for both the antibody-mediated immune response (AMIR) and the cell-mediated immune response (CMIR), which generally predominate in responses to extracellular and intracellular pathogens, respectively. Of note was that associations between BoLA DRB3.2 alleles and immune responses tended to be in the opposite sign for the 2 AMIR and CMIR traits examined. For example, alleles DRB3.2*3 and *24 were associated with higher AMIR but lower CMIR, whereas allele *22 was associated with lower AMIR but higher CMIR. This finding is in agreement with the hypothesis that both traits are genetically independent and represent opposing type 1 and type 2 immune responses. Additionally, BoLA DRB3.2*3 and *11 were associated with lower SCC, whereas alleles *22 and *23 were associated with higher SCC. Finally, allele DRB3.2*3 was also associated with less clinical mastitis, whereas allele *8 was associated with higher mastitis risk. Allele *3 was of particular relevance because it was associated with increased antibodies, as well as reduced mastitis and SCC. This could be due to an indirect relationship between the ability to produce a high antibody response and enhanced defense against intrammamary infections caused by extracellular pathogens. Consequently, the BoLA DRB3.2*3 allele should be investigated further as a candidate for resistance to some types of intramammary infections, the important caveat being its association with lower CMIR, particularly with one of the test antigens used to evaluate delayed-type hypersensitivity. The results of associations between BoLA DRB3.2 and production traits were, in some cases, antagonistic in that BoLA DRB3.2 alleles *11 and *23, which are associated with increased production traits, were associated with lower and higher SCC, respectively. Collectively, these findings advocate the use of alleles *3, *23, and *22 as reference points for more detailed mechanistic studies. This does not imply that genetic selection for mastitis resistance should be based on BoLA alleles, but that information on a variety of genes may aid in identification and selection for improved health.

A novel association of BoLA DRB3 alleles in BLV infected cattle with different proviral loads

“…On the other hand, other issues like production traits improvement, resistance to mastitis pathogens, somatic cell counts and milk yield have also been related to specific BoLA alleles (DIETZ et al, 1997;RUPP et al, 2007;YOSHIDA et al, 2009;BALTIAN et al, 2012;YOSHIDA et al, 2012). However, some controversies exist between different studies.…”

“…These genes are associated with genetic resistance and susceptibility to a wide range of diseases, including mastitis (DIETZ et al, 1997;RUPP et al, 2007;YOSHIDA et al, 2009;YOSHIDA et al, 2012), dermatophilosis (MAILLARD et al, 2002), tick-borne diseases (DUANGJINDA et al, 2013), infection with Neospora caninum (SCHWAB et al, 2009), African trypanosome species (KARIMURIBO et al, 2011), and Theileria annulata (GLASS et al, 2012b). Moreover, BoLA appears to influence other traits such as milk yield, growth and reproduction, and variations in immune responses to antigens (TAKESHIMA; AIDA, 2006) and even vaccine peptides (GARCIA-BRIONES et al, 2000;GLASS et al, 2012a).…”

Polymorphisms of BoLA-DRB3 gene and its association with resistance / susceptibility to Leucosis in Holstein cattle from La Pampa

“…Por este motivo han sido llevados a cabo numerosos estudios sobre el polimorfismo de esta región del gen BoLA-DRB3 en diferentes razas bovinas, tanto criollas como comerciales, utilizando diferentes metodologías (Behl et al, 2007;Dietz et al, 1997aDietz et al, , 1997bGilliespie et al, 1999;Giovambattista et al, 1996Giovambattista et al, , 2001Hernández-Herrera et al, 2009;Lee et al, 2012;Lei et al, 2012;Maillard et al, 1999;Miretti et al, 2001;Miyasaka et al, 2011Miyasaka et al, , 2012Mohammadi et al, 2009;Nassiry et al, 2005;Ripoli et al, 2004;Rupp et al, 2007;Ruzina et al, 2010;Sharif et al, 1998;Starkenburg et al, 1997;Stear et al, 1982;Takeshima et al, 2003;Udina et al, 1998).…”

“…Sharif et al (1998) en 60 animales, encontraron 14 alelos, en tanto Saama et al (2004) en 835 animales encontraron 27 alelos. En el Holstein canadiense (Rupp et al, 2007) reportan que los alelos más frecuentes son el *8 y el *11 que concuerda con lo reportado por Parnian et al (2006) en ganado Holstein Iraní.…”

“…Además que la respuesta inmune mediada por anticuerpos fue mayor en el alelo *24 y menor en el alelo *22, (Rupp et al, 2007). Panei et al (2009) en el ganado Holando Argentino encontraron que los alelos *11, *23 y *28 se asociaban a una baja presencia de LP, de los cuales solo el alelo *11 se encontró en Polimorfismos del exón 2 del gen BoLA-DRB3 asociados con resistencia / susceptibilidad a leucosis en ganado Holstein de La Pampa el ganado CQT, el alelo *23 en todas las razas con alta frecuencia en el HV.…”