Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Immune responses in symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs with Leishmania
By Cardoso, L et al.·Published in Veterinary immunology and immunopathology·2007·Department of Veterinary Sciences·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Anti-Leishmania humoral and cellular immune responses in naturally infected symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs infected with Leishmania (a parasite that can cause serious health issues) were studied to understand their immune responses. Some dogs showed no symptoms, while others were sick. The researchers found that sick dogs had higher levels of a specific antibody (IgG2), which could indicate disease, while another antibody (IgG1) did not show a clear link to infection. The study suggests that using both blood tests and skin tests can help veterinarians better assess how dogs are responding to this infection.
People also search for: dog Leishmania symptoms · dog immune response to Leishmania · treatment for Leishmania in dogs
Abstract
Canine infections with Leishmania infantum represent a considerable veterinary medical and public health problem. In this study, immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) and IgG2 specific humoral responses were measured and compared with the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) cellular response to a leishmanin, in three groups of dogs clinically and serologically characterised as: (I) asymptomatic and direct agglutination test (DAT)-seronegative; (II) asymptomatic and DAT-seropositive; (III) DAT-seropositive and symptomatic. IgG2 was regarded as a marker of disease, since significantly higher levels of this subclass were recorded in the symptomatic dogs. In contrast, the IgG1 response could not be related to clinically relevant infection. A high correlation was observed between IgG2 level and DAT titre; the correlations between IgG1 and IgG2 levels, and between IgG1 level and DAT titre were lower. This may indicate that IgG2 is the main subclass in the specific humoral response which is detected by the DAT. A reduced IgG2 response, albeit not significantly different, was recorded among dogs with clear cellular immune responses detected by a DTH positive reaction. Furthermore, no correlations were observed between cellular response measured by DTH and humoral responses quantified by DAT titre or IgG1 and IgG2 levels. Combining serology and DTH skin test is a practical procedure to assess anti-Leishmania immune responses in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17321602/