Development of a hyena immunology toolbox

Abstract

Animals that hunt and scavenge are often exposed to a broad array of pathogens. Theory predicts the immune systems of animals specialized for scavenging should have been molded by selective pressures associated with surviving microbial assaults from their food. Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are capable hunters that have recently descended from carrion feeding ancestors. Hyenas have been documented to survive anthrax and rabies infections, and outbreaks of several other viral diseases that decimated populations of sympatric carnivores. In light of the extreme disease resistance manifested by spotted hyenas, our objective was to identify tools available for studying immune function in spotted hyenas and use these tools to document the hyena antibody response to immunization. Domestic cats (Felis catus) are the closest phylogenetic relatives of hyenas that have been studied in detail immunologically, and we hypothesized that anti-cat isotype-specific antibodies would cross react with hyena immunoglobulin epitopes. We used ELISA and Western blots to test isotype-specific anti-feline antibodies for specific cross-reaction to hyena Ig epitopes. Molecular weights of heavy (IgA, IgG, IgM) and light chains of hyena immunoglobulins were determined by protein electrophoresis, and as expected, they were found to be similar to feline immunoglobulins. In order to further validate the cross-reactivity of the anti-feline antibodies and document the hyena humoral response, eight spotted hyenas were immunized with dinitrophenol conjugated keyhole limpet hemocyanin (DNP-KLH) and serum anti-DNP responses were monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for one year. The full array of isotype-specific antibodies identified here will allow veterinarians and other researchers to thoroughly investigate the hyena antibody response, and can be used in future studies to test hypotheses about pathogen exposure and immune function in this species.

An Organic Field-effect Transistor with an Extended-gate Electrode Capable of Detecting Human Immunoglobulin A

“…S6 -S8, Supporting Information). The employed anti-IgA antibody (clone code: IgA5-3B) has high-specificity for the human IgA (which is reported by previous reports), 28,29 indicating that the response to human IgA is based solely on the immune-interaction between the anti-IgA antibody and the human IgA on the extended-gate electrode. The addition of the human IgA over 10 μg/mL induced a saturated response because the anti-IgA antibody is fully bound to the human IgA.…”

Effect of cognitive enrichment on behavior, mucosal immunity and upper respiratory disease of shelter cats rated as frustrated on arrival

“…Elevated S-IgA has consistently been reported to protect against URD in many species (Hewson-Bower and Drummond, 1996;Brandtzaeg, 2003;Stokes and Waly, 2006;Flies et al, 2012), and conversely IgA deficiency has been associated with persistent symptoms of URD (Brandtzaeg et al, 1987;Renegar and Small, 1991;Janzi et al, 2009). However, in a study of IgA knockout mice (IgA-/-) generated by gene targeting, IgA was not required for prevention of influenza virus infection and disease, indicating that other Ig's may serve to decrease susceptibility to URD (Mbawuike et al, 1999).…”

Emotions, mucosal immunity and respiratory disease in shelter cats

“…However, these findings were replicated with similar results [67,68] and built upon by evidence that humoral immunity could also be behaviourally conditioned [69]. These data support the hypothesis that stress hormones are key regulators of immune response.…”

“…Control cats were more likely to develop upper respiratory disease over the course of the study and to develop it significantly sooner than treated cats. Elevated S-IgA has consistently been reported to protect against URD in many species [66][67][68][69], and IgA deficiency has been associated with persistent symptoms of URD [70][71][72]. On the other hand, in a study of…”

“…PCA results were interpreted using biplot analyses [68][69][70]. According to this methodology, the projection (length) of each vector (line) in the biplot approximates the variances of the variable.…”