Effect of Allergen-Specific Immunotherapy on Transcriptomic Changes in Canine Atopic Dermatitis

Abstract

Canine atopic dermatitis (cAD) is a genetic, chronic, and recurrent inflammatory and pruritic skin disorder. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) is presently recognized as the only clinically effective disease-modifying treatment for allergies. The aim of our study was to analyze the changes in gene expression observed in the peripheral blood nuclear cells of cAD patients subjected to ASIT. Blood samples designated for transcriptomic analyses were collected from AD dogs twice, before and six months after ASIT, and also from healthy dogs. Statistical analysis revealed 521 differentially expressed transcripts, among which 241 transcripts represented genes with well-described functions. Based on the available literature, we chose nine differentially expressed genes (RARRES2, DPP10, SLPI, PLSCR4, MMP9, NTSR1, CBD103, DEFB122, and IL36G) which may be important in the context of the dysregulated immune response observed in cAD patients. The expressions of five out of the nine described genes (DPP10, PLSCR4, NTSR1, DEFB122, and IL36G) changed after the application of ASIT. The expressions of three of these genes returned to the level observed in the healthy control group. The genes listed above need further investigation to determine details of their role in the molecular mechanism of immune tolerance induction in response to allergen-specific immunotherapy.