Virulence Genes and Immunological Biomarkers for Brucellosis in Sheep & Goat
Virulence Genes and Immunological Biomarkers for Brucellosis in Sheep & Goat
Asmaa A. Darwish*, Adel M. El-Kattan, Mona A. Mahmoud, Mohamed T. Ragab, Amani A. Hafez
ABSTRACT
Brucella melitensis is an annoying problem for animal breeders. It attacks different farm animals causing infertility, abortion, and stillbirth. This study aimed to figure out the common genes related to B. melitensis field strains virulence and assess the immunological, hormonal, and iron profile alterations related to B. melitensis infection in sheep and goat with special reference to their value as biomarkers for the disease. Vaginal swabs were collected from 110 ewes and 150 does for bacteriological examination. Blood samples were collected for immunological, hormonal, and iron profile estimation. The total recovery of B. melitensis was 13.50% with nearly equal percentages in sheep (13.60%), and goat (13.33%). B. melitensis isolates had bvfA gene, virB gene, and ure gene with percentages of 62.8%, 77%, and 37% respectively. B. melitensis infection in sheep and goat resulted in a significant (P˂0.05) increase in the pro-inflammatory cytokines, acute phase proteins (APPs), free radicals, cortisol, growth hormone, and TSH concentrations and a significant (P˂0.05) decline in the anti-inflammatory cytokine, anti-oxidants, insulin, T3, and T4 levels. The iron profile of infected animals was characterized by a significant (P˂0.05) hypoferremia, hyperferritinemia, and hypotransferrinemia. The estimated pro-inflammatory cytokines and APPs yielded high sensitivity and specificity values in both infected species, but IL-1β, IL-6, and Fb had the highest likelihood ratios in infected sheep and IL-1β and IL-1α had the highest likelihood ratios in infected goat while Hp and IL-1β scored the highest percentages of increase among these markers. We concluded that bvfA, virB, and ure are the main virulence genes in B. melitensis isolates obtained from vaginal swabs of infected sheep and goat. B. melitensis infection elicits a prominent innate immune response in sheep and goat, resulting in several hormonal and iron profile alterations. IL-1β, IL-6, Fb, and Hp are good markers for sheep brucellosis, and IL-1β, IL-1α, and Hp are good indicators for goat brucellosis.
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