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Can the genetic selection for improved immune response be tailored to expand the efficacy of disease management interventions
Infectious diseases are costly to all aspects of domestic animal management, care and well-being across all aspects of husbandry including companion, food and sport animals. One aspect of animal health, however, serves as both an intriguing puzzle and an opportunity to exploit the basis for the puzzle. That aspect encompasses the underlying cause for some animals to be devastated by an infecting organism that another might only be minimally affected by. Observations of cattle resistant to natural infections have implied the feasibility of breeding livestock for disease resistance. Studies of pigs selected for antibody (AMIR)- and cell (CMIR)-mediated immune responses have demonstrated increased immune responsiveness suggesting enhanced protection by both type 2 and type 1 responses, respectively. Additionally, natural or artificial infections of cattle suggest that the production of particular immunoglobulin (Ig) M, IgG1 and IgG2 isotypes are important for protecting against pathogens. In fact, IgG1/IgG2 ratios are often used to establish whether type 1 (CMIR) or type 2 (AMIR) responses predominate following immunization or infection. With this in mind, this presentation will address novel aspects of animal-to-animal variability in adaptive immune response as well as some newer findings in the rapidly expanding area of epigenetics and chromatin modifications and present both new findings as well as suggestions for promising areas of research out of which may result better strategies towards maintaining animal health.
Keywords: cattle, immunity, phenotype