Universite de Sherbrooke * Etude de l’etat immunitaire des vaches laitiere atteintes de la paratuberculose bovine par Pier-Luc Dudemaine Departement de biochimie Memoire presente a la faculte de medecine et des sciences de la sante en vue de l’obtention du grade de maTtre es sciences (M.Sc.) en biochimie Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada 23 juillet 2013 Membres du jury devaluation Nathalie Bissonnette (Biochimie, Universite de Sherbrooke) Martin Bisaillon (Biochimie, Universite de Sherbrooke) Viktor Steimle (Biologie, Universite de Sherbrooke) 1+1 Library and Archives Canada Bibliotheque et Archives Canada Published Heritage Branch Direction du Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-499-00351-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-499-00351-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ exclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distrbute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or non­ commercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Conform em ent a la loi canadienne sur la protection de la vie privee, quelques formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de cette these. W hile these forms may be included in the document page count, their removal does not represent any loss of content from the thesis. Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. Canada RESUME * Etude de i ’etat immunitaire des vaches laitiere atteintes de la paratuberculose bovine par Pier-Luc Dudemaine Departement de biochimie Memoire presente a la faculte de medecine et des sciences de la sante en vue de l’obtention du grade de maitre es sciences (M.Sc.) en biochimie, Faculte de medecine et des sciences de la sante, Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, J1H 5N4 La paratuberculose bovine, ou maladie de Johne, est une maladie inflammatoire intestinale chronique provoquant d’importantes pertes economiques chez les producteurs de ruminants du monde entier. Que ce soit chez la vache laitiere ou de boucherie, ces pertes sont causees majoritairement par une diminution de la capacite de reproduction, la baisse de production laitiere et l’amaigrissement des vaches qui perdent ainsi beaucoup de valeur a 1’abattage, en plus d’etre sujettes a une reforme precoce. Outre les pertes economiques, le potentiel de transmission a l’humain est un facteur non negligeable en plus d ’un risque de contamination de la chaine alimentaire. Cette maladie est causee par une bacterie intracellulaire obligatoire nommee Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). II n ’existe actuellement aucune strategic efficace pour combattre 1’infection chez les animaux atteints. L’evolution lente de la maladie fait en sorte que les signes cliniques apparaissent tardivement, soit plusieurs annees (4 a 7 ans) apres l’infection initiale. Au cours de cette progression, les animaux infectes commencent a excreter le pathogene dans leur environnement. Les animaux atteints deviennent infectieux et peuvent contaminer d’autres congeneres, ainsi que leur propre veau. Afin de permettre aux producteurs d’eliminer les vaches atteintes avant qu’elles n’atteignent ce stade, il s’avere important d ’etablir un diagnostic precoce. Actuellement, ce n’est qu’en phase sous-clinique avancee que les tests diagnostiques sont plus sensibles, soit 2 a 3 ans apres le debut des excretions fecales chez les animaux infectes. L’incomprehension du manque de sensibilite des tests de depistage et de 1’evolution de cette maladie justifient les efforts de recherche dans ce domaine en vue de mieux comprendre les reponses immunitaires impliquees dans cette maladie. En effet, une meilleure connaissance des processus d’inflammation chronique pourrait aider a developper des outils diagnostiques complementaires. Nos resultats suggerent une deregulation de la reponse immunitaire. Ainsi, en etudiant les composantes et caracteristiques du sang provenant de vaches infectees, il nous a ete possible d ’observer que les niveaux de cytokines plasmatiques telles l’interleukine 17 et Posteopontine se trouvent secretees a differents niveaux chez les vaches atteintes de paratuberculose bovine. De plus, Panalyse de la capacite de leur serum a soutenir efficacement la proliferation des cellules mononucleees du sang peripherique revele que le serum de vaches infectees interfere pour attenuer la proliferation cellulaire. II semble qu’un constituant du serum provoque une diminution de la reponse immunitaire chez les vaches malades. Les resultats offrent une appreciation des dereglements immunitaires provoques par la paratuberculose bovine. Mots cles : Paratuberculose bovine / Maladie de Johne / Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis / reponse immunitaire TABLE DES MATIERES RESUME...........................................................................................................................................ii TABLE DES MATIERES............................................................................................................ iii LISTE DES FIGURES................................................................................................................... v LISTE DES ABREVIATIONS....................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................7 1. 2. 3. LA PARATUBERCULOSE B O V IN E ............................................................................. 7 1.2. La decouverte de la maladie......................................................................................... 7 1.3. Culture de la bacterie......................................................................................................7 1.4. Dissemination de la maladie et ses h o tes....................................................................8 1.5. Evolution de la paratuberculose................................................................................... 9 1.6. Le diagnostic de la m aladie...........................................................................................9 1.7. La prevalence de la m aladie........................................................................................ 11 LE SYSTEME IMMUNITAIRE.......................................................................................12 2.1. Role et composantes..................................................................................................... 12 2.2. La reponse immunitaire innee.....................................................................................15 2.3. La reponse immunitaire adaptative............................................................................ 16 2.4. Les lymphocytes T auxiliaires (Th)............................................................................ 16 2.5. Role des lymphocytes T auxiliaires........................................................................... 19 2.6. Regulation negative de 1’inflammation..................................................................... 21 PATHOGENESE DE LA PARATUBERCULOSE.......................................................21 3.1. Infection initiale............................................................................................................21 3.2. Initialisation de la reponse im m unitaire.................................................................... 23 3.3. L’evolution de la paratuberculose bovine.................................................................24 3.4. Genes de susceptibilite a la paratuberculose............................................................ 25 3.5. Zoonose de la paratuberculose................................................................................... 26 3.6. Objectifs et hypotheses................................................................................................27 AVANT-PROPOS DU PREMIER ARTICLE....................................................................... 29 RESUME DU PREMIER ARTICLE.......................................................................................31 PREMIER ARTICLE..................................................................................................................33 AVANT-PROPOS DU DEUXIEME A R T IC L E................................................................... 66 RESUME DU DEUXIEME ARTICLE.............................................................. 71 DEUXIEME ARTICLE...............................................................................................................74 DISCUSSION ET CONCLUSION........................................................................................... 99 REMERCIEMENTS.................................................................................................................. 103 LISTE DES PUBLICATIONS.................................................................................................104 LISTE DES FIGURES Figure 1 : Schema des progeniteurs immuns................................................................................14 Figure 2 : Molecules impliquees dans le developpement des lymphocytes T auxiliaires.... 18 Figure 3 : Voies de differenciations des lymphocytes T naifs en lymphocytes T effecteurs20 Figure 4 : Schema representant 1’invasion tissulaire de plusieurs bacteries intestinales 22 LISTE DES ABREVIATIONS ADN CCS CD4/CD8 CMH CPA ELISA HSC IFN-y IL MAP NK NOD-2 NR AMP 1 OPN PBMC PCR qRT-PCR ROS SNP SPP1 STAT TCR TGF-P Th TNF-a Treg Acide desoxyribonucleique Cote de cellules somatiques Locus de differentiation 4 et 8 Complexe majeur d’histocompatibilite Cellule presentatrice d ’antigene Essai d’immuno-absorption enzymatique Cellules souches hematopoi'etiques Interferon-gamma Interleukine Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis Cellules "natural killer" Domaine d ’oligomerisation nucleotidique-2 Proteine des macrophages associee a la resistance naturelle-1 Osteopontine Cellules mononucleees du sang peripherique Reaction de polymerisation en chaine Transcription inverse quantitative Especes reactives oxygenees Polymorphisme de nucleotide unique Phosphoproteine secretee-1 Transducteur de signal et activateur de transcription Recepteur des cellules T Facteur de croissance transformant-beta Lymphocytes T auxiliaires Facteur de necrose tumoral-alpha Lymphocytes T regulateurs INTRODUCTION 1. LA PARATUBERCULOSE BOVINE 1.2. La decouverte de la maladie Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) est 1’agent causal de la paratuberculose bovine, egalement appele maladie de Johne. Ce nom a ete decerne en l’honneur du Dr Heinrich Albert Johne qui proceda, avec l’aide du Dr Langdon Frothingham en 1894, a la toute premiere description clinique et necropsique de la maladie (Johne, 1895). Ils identifierent a ce moment une bacterie acido-resistante a l’interieur des lesions granulomateuses intestinales d’une vache affectee. En 1906, Bernhard Bang a etabli qu’il existe une difference entre la tuberculose et la paratuberculose (Manning et Collins, 2010). II parvint a provoquer de la fievre et des plaies suintantes en injectant une preparation proteique provenant d ’une souche aviaire chez des vaches atteintes de la paratuberculose, sans toutefois y parvenir chez les vaches atteintes de la tuberculose. Ces dernieres reagissaient seulement a la tuberculine preparee cette fois de Mycobacterium bovis qui est 1’agent causal de la tuberculose chez les bovins. Cette experience demontra que le betail presentait une reaction immunitaire en reponse au pathogene recueilli chez les oiseaux et non en reponse au pathogene bovin causant la tuberculose. De ces resultats, avant m£me d’etre capable de cultiver la bacterie, il avait ete etabli que la maladie de Johne etait apparentee a la mycobacterie pathogene retrouvee chez les oiseaux et non au pathogene bovin associe a la tuberculose. Des lors, le nom de paratuberculose etait attribue a cette mycobacterie responsable de la maladie de Johne. 1.3. Culture de la bacterie Ce n’est qu’en 1912 que la premiere culture de la bacterie fut reussie a l’aide d ’un milieu enrichi d ’une preparation de Mycobacterium phlei tue par la chaleur. Cette decouverte fortuite fut realisee par le scientifique britannique Frederick William Twort qui observa la croissance de petites colonies bacteriennes autour de celles creees par M. phlei un bacille se retrouvant communement dans le foin (Manning et Collins, 2010). C ’est a ce moment qu’il 8 fut etabli que M. phlei apportait un quelconque element nutritif essentiel a la croissance de Mycobacterium enteriditis chronicae pseudotuberculosae bovis Johne’ tel qu’il la nomma. Cet element essentiel est la mycobactine J qui sert de siderophore (De Voss et al., 2000, Quadri et al., 1998) necessaire a 1’incorporation du fer chez la bacterie. Dans ces memes travaux, il proceda a la demonstration de l’effet de causalite de la paratuberculose par la confirmation des postulats de Koch. Baptisee Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, elle fut officiellement incriminee comme l’agent etiologique de la maladie de Johne pour la premiere fois dans l’edition initiale du Bergey’s Manual o f Determinative Bacteriology en 1923. La venue de 1’ere de la genetique au courant des annees ‘90 permit la reclassification de la bacterie en une sous-espece de la famille de Mycobacterium avium, d ’ou son nom actuel Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. 1.4. Dissemination de la maladie et ses hotes La paratuberculose se retrouve principalement chez les ruminants, meme si des evidences indiquent clairement 1’infection chez plusieurs autres especes animales, notamment le renard, le lapin et le raton laveur (Beard et al., 2001, Corn et al., 2005). La transmission la plus frequente se fait de maniere horizontale, soit d ’un animal a l’autre par la voie fecoorale. Cependant, le pathogene peut egalement emprunter une voie dite verticale, generalement par l’ingestion de colostrum contamine (Nielsen et al., 2008, Streeter et al., 1995). Selon certaines etudes, la transmission in utero serait aussi possible (Sweeney et al., 1992, Whittington et Windsor, 2009). Le pathogene est capable de survivre jusqu’a un an dans l’environnement, hors de son hote (Larsen et Miller, 1978), augmentant ainsi les risques de contamination des congeneres. Les methodes de propagation enumerees favorisent generalement une dispersion du pathogene de maniere intra-troupeau strictement. Cependant, les echanges frequents d ’animaux entre les troupeaux ainsi que le contact avec une faune sauvage infectee accroissent la probability d’une propagation inter-troupeaux. Effectivement, considerant que les daims (Pavlik et al., 2000, Riemann et al., 1979), les cerfs (Fawcett et al., 1995, Power et al., 1993), les wapitis (Manning et al., 1998, Rohonczy et al., 1996) et plusieurs autres ruminants sont presents dans l’environnement entourant les fermes, ces animaux infectes deviennent des vecteurs de propagation. Le risque de contamination par la faune sauvage est reel. Ces risques ne sont pas seulement presents en 9 Amerique du Nord, mais bien a 1’echelle internationale, puisque des etudes ont demontre la presence d’animaux contamines sur tous les continents. 1.5. Evolution de la paratuberculose Suivant l’infection initiale via les voies enumerees precedemment, la maladie progresse generalement selon 3 etapes. La premiere etant le stade d ’infection dite silencieuse, c’est-adire que l’hote est infecte, mais ne presente aucun signe clinique de la maladie et n ’excrete pas le pathogene dans l’environnement. Cette periode etant tres variable, les animaux demeurent a ce stade de la maladie habituellement pendant 4 a 5 ans. II est a noter que les nouveau-nes de moins d ’un an sont plus susceptibles de contracter la maladie (Windsor et Whittington, 2010), bien que ce soit contredit dans certaines etudes. Au cours du deuxieme stade dit sous-clinique, le pathogene commence generalement a etre excrete dans les feces des animaux atteints en plus d’y avoir apparition de signes precurseurs de la maladie. Ces signes sont habituellement des diarrhees intermittentes, une baisse de production laitiere en plus d ’une cachexie, malgre que l’appetit de l’animal soit maintenu. C ’est au cours de ce stade que la plupart des vaches sont initialement diagnostiquees. Dependamment de la methode diagnostique utilisee, la detection peut survenir a differents moments au cours de la phase sous-clinique. A ce moment, les vaches sont generalement agees entre 5 et 7 ans, quoique certains animaux excretant des plus grandes quantites de bacteries dans leurs feces peuvent etre diagnostiquees bien avant cet age (Pradhan et al., 2011). Le troisieme stade se nomme la phase clinique, periode ou les signes cliniques de la maladie s’intensifient au point ou toutes les defections sont sous forme de diarrhees chroniques, une production laitiere drastiquement reduite et un amaigrissement extreme et ce, sans perte d ’appetit. Malheureusement, jusqu’a ce jour, la seule issue possible pour les animaux atteints de cette maladie incurable est une reforme prematuree. 1.6. Le diagnostic de la maladie Les outils diagnostiques les plus couramment utilises se repartissent selon deux groupes. Les outils directs incluent les techniques de culture bacterienne de MAP et 1’amplification par PCR de sequence specifique au pathogene a partir de feces. Les outils indirects quant a eux ont pour but la detection d’anticorps diriges contre MAP produits par les hotes infectes. 10 La methode utilisee pour y parvenir est l’ELISA applique sur le plasma, le serum ou le lait. Tel que mentionne precedemment, les outils diagnostiques ne permettent presentement pas la detection avant que 1’animal soit dans un stade avance de la phase sous-clinique, meme pour la culture fecale qui s’avere habituellement etre un diagnostic plus hatif (Sweeney et al., 2006). Pour l’essai ELISA, le diagnostic est etabli par la detection d ’anticorps diriges contre le pathogene qui se trouvent en circulation dans le sang ou secretes dans le lait. Ainsi, pour obtenir un resultat positif dans ces derniers tests, Tanimal doit avoir produit une reponse immunitaire humorale contre le pathogene intracellulaire, ce qui survient generalement apres le debut de 1’excretion de celui-ci dans les feces. D ’autre part, la specificite des outils diagnostiques avoisine 100% pour la culture fecale et 99% pour les ELISA (Whitlock et al., 2000). Cependant, la sensibilite differe grandement d’un essai a l’autre et d’un systeme a l’autre. Dans le cas de la culture fecale, la sensibilite a rarement ete determinee, puisqu’elle necessite l’analyse en necropsie. C ’est pourquoi la culture bacterienne est generalement utilisee comme reference. Cependant quelques etudes ont procede a la comparaison entre la culture de MAP dans les feces et celle provenant de tissus intestinaux apres necropsie et la sensibilite de detection dans les feces est approximee autour de 50% (Sockett et al., 1992, Whitlock et al., 2000). Ce faible taux de detection obtenu par la culture du pathogene dans les feces est justifiee par quelques exigences. En premier lieu, le pathogene doit se retrouver en nombre suffisant dans les feces pour permettre sa detection. Puis s’ajoute a cette contrainte le succes de l’etape de disinfection des feces. Cette derniere etape est critique, puisqu’elle doit favoriser la destruction de tout organisme pouvant nuire a sa detection tout en permettant a MAP de survivre. La difficulte majeure de la culture bacterienne de MAP vient du fait que le pathogene possede une croissance tres lente, soit un temps de double-vie de 3,5 jours comparativement a 15 minutes pour Escherichia coli et de 20 minutes pour Staphylococcus aureus. En consequence, la culture d ’une duree de 6 a 8 semaines ne doit pas etre souillee par un contaminant dont la croissance serait plus rapide que celle de MAP. De ce fait, il est generalement admis qu’une validation par PCR doit confirmer les cas positifs. En ce qui a trait a l’analyse serologique, il s’agit d ’une approche indirecte. L’ELISA est beaucoup moins sensible, puisqu’il determine si l’hote a produit une bonne quantite d ’anticorps contre le pathogene. La nature meme des pathogenes intracellulaires rend la production 11 d ’anticorps chez l’animal tres ardue. En effet, la mission des mycobacteries est de demeurer imperceptible par le systeme immunitaire de l’hote le plus longtemps possible et ainsi prolonger leur survie a l’interieur des cellules. Ce qui explique pourquoi l’ELISA serologique detecte les vaches generalement plus tardivement que la culture fecale (Woodbury et al., 2008). En effet, avant le debut de l’excretion significative dans les feces, le pathogene reussi a dejouer le systeme immunitaire de l’hote retardant du meme coup la production d’anticorps specifiques au pathogene. L’avantage des techniques utilisant 1’ELISA est de livrer des resultats beaucoup plus rapidement en plus de faciliter l’echantillonnage. Neanmoins leur sensibilite est tres reduite comparativement a la culture fecale, approximee autour de 30% (Collins et al., 2005, McKenna et al., 2005). Dependamment du test utilise, cette sensibilite peut monter pres de 50% en ayant une specificite reduite a 85% (Collins et al., 2005). II est a noter que les sensibilites pour les ELISA sont calculees par rapport a la culture fecale et non la culture de tissus lors de la necropsie. On presume ainsi que leur sensibilite est deux fois moindre. 1.7. La prevalence de la maladie La prevalence reelle de la paratuberculose est difficile a evaluer compte tenu de la faible sensibilite des tests diagnostiques. D ’autre part, ce ne sont pas tous les laboratoires qui utilisent les memes outils diagnostic. En considerant que les sensibilites sont tres differentes d’un test a l’autre et que les laboratoires n ’utilisent pas tous les memes tests, il est evident que la prevalence apparente calculee dans un cas utilisant la culture fecale est tres divergente de celle calculee en utilisant un ELISA serologique. De plus, le seuil critique etabli pour un diagnostic positif differe d ’un laboratoire a l’autre. Par exemple, pour la detection directe de la bacterie dans les feces, un laboratoire pourrait decider que l’obtention de dix colonies isolees est suffisante pour declarer 1’animal positif, alors qu’un autre laboratoire peut etablir ce seuil a cinquante colonies. Dans le dernier cas, la certitude de ne pas avoir de faux-positif est tres grande, par contre la sensibilite est reduite de beaucoup. Pour ces raisons, on retrouve presentement de grands ecarts selon les etudes dans la prevalence calculee des troupeaux infectes. Cette prevalence est de l’ordre de 20 a 30% dans certaines etudes (Dieguez et al., 2007, Good et al., 2009) alors que d ’autres rapportent des prevalences apparentes aussi elevees que 70% (Lombard et al., 2013, Pozzato et al., 12 2011). Les sensibilites dans ces etudes varient entre 30 a 45%, ce qui explique difficilement les tres grands ecarts rapportes. L’etude la plus interessante a ce jour a ete produite par le departement de l’agriculture des Etats-Unis au niveau national en utilisant qu’un seul laboratoire de diagnostic pour normaliser les resultats (Lombard et al., 2013). En ajustant les resultats par rapport a la sensibilite et la specificite des tests, ils estiment que la prevalence reelle des troupeaux laitiers comptant au moins un animal positif dans sa cohorte aux Etats-Unis serait au-dela de 90%. II est certain que la prevalence des troupeaux infectes varie d’un pays a 1’autre, puisque la regie des troupeaux est differente, la grosseur des fermes varie et la faune sauvage environnante n ’est egalement pas la meme. Cependant, a defaut d ’avoir une etude pancanadienne approximant la prevalence des troupeaux atteints par la paratuberculose, il est envisageable qu’elle puisse s’apparenter a celle calculee pour les fermes americaines. En prenant en consideration ces faits rapportes, il est flagrant que la paratuberculose est une maladie dont il faut se preoccuper d ’avantage pour assurer une diminution de la propagation et ainsi prevenir les risques non nuls de zoonose. En resume, la paratuberculose bovine continue de se repandre partout dans le monde et les efforts mis pour restreindre la propagation sont peut-etre vains tant et aussi longtemps que les outils diagnostiques ne permettront pas d’obtenir une meilleure sensibilite. Cette difficulte a developper de tels tests est probablement causee par une reponse immunitaire humorale incoherente. Les prochains chapitres permettront de mieux comprendre les principes regissant la production d ’une reaction immunitaire efficace en reponse aux agents pathogenes. 2. LE SYSTEME IMMUNITAIRE 2.1. Role et composantes Lors d’etudes sur les infections causees par un organisme comme MAP, il est important de bien comprendre les mecanismes immunitaires, specifiques ou non, impliques dans la reponse de l’hote pour ameliorer la comprehension globale de la reponse face au pathogene etudie. Ce faisant, il sera plus aise d’elaborer des strategies efficaces pour controler la progression de la maladie a l’interieur de 1’hote et eventuellement parvenir a obtenir un 13 traitement efficace. Cette section aura pour but d ’introduire les roles du systeme immunitaire ainsi que les principaux types cellulaires impliques et leurs fonctions. Pendant leur croissance, les vertebres developpent un systeme immunitaire leur permettant de se defendre contre 1’invasion d ’agents pathogenes viraux, bacteriens, fongiques ou parasitaires. Le systeme immun a pour but de detecter les organismes ayant fait intrusion chez l’hote, empecher leur propagation et permettre leur elimination. Pour y parvenir, ce systeme complexe emploie deux types de defenses, soit une reponse non specifique et une specifique, respectivement nommees les reponses immunitaires innee et adaptative. Elies ont des fonctions tres differentes, mais complementaires. Elies sont toutes deux necessaires pour conserver l’etat sain de 1’hote. Les cellules impliquees dans chacune de ces reponses proviennent d’un precurseur commun situe dans la moelle osseuse nomme cellule souche hematopoietique (HSC, Figure 1). 14 CD = Cellules Dendritiques Precurseur des erythrocytes et megacaryocytes Precurseurdes granulocytes Monocvte © Precurseurdes monocytes Precurseur des granulocytes et mcmocvtes Precurseurdes CD myelo'ides T CD peripheriques 4 CD thymiques CD peripheriques j Pre-CD CD inflammatoires Precurseur myeloide lymphoide Z ' , | CD peripheriques " v , Precurseurdes CD lymphoides T CD thymiques f "V, Precurseurdes , \ _J ; lymphocytes B ‘( 'S'-. Precurseurdes \ cellules NK ^ j , Precurseur lymphoide thymique X / —S' U Precurseur ; lymphoide des , ' CD thymiques Q ' Precurseur des / lymphocytes T N ature Raviaw * | Im m unology Figure 1 : Schema des progeniteurs immuns. Les differents types de cellules immunitaires proviennent tous de progeniteurs communs situes dans la moelle osseuse qui tirent leur origine de cellules souches hematopoietiques (HSC). Les cellules se differencient ensuite selon deux voies, soit la voie lymphoide (en jaune) ou la voie myeloide (en mauve). Modifie d ’Ardavin (2003). Deux lignees distinctes sont produites a partir de ces cellules souches, la lignee myeloide et la lignee lymphoide. Les cellules de la lignee lymphoide sont celles responsables de la reponse adaptative, alors que celles impliquees dans la reponse innee sont issues de la lignee myeloide. Le precurseur myeloide est egalement responsable de la production des erythrocytes (globules rouges), les thrombocytes (plaquettes), les mastocytes et les 15 myeloblastes. Ces demiers peuvent ensuite donner les cellules granulocytaires, dont font partie les basophiles, les neutrophiles et les eosinophiles, mais egalement les cellules monocytaires qui peuvent se differencier en macrophages (Parham, 2003). Pour ce qui est des cellules dendritiques, elles peuvent etre produites par Pune ou 1’autre des lignees lymphoides et myeloides (Manz et al., 2001). Quant a la lignee lymphoide, elle produit les lymphocytes B, les lymphocytes T ainsi que les cellules " natural killers" (cellules NK). 2.2. La reponse immunitaire innee La reponse innee represente les premiers mecanismes de defense de Porganisme. La protection initiale est assuree par les barrieres physiques, soit la peau, les muqueuses, ainsi que certains aspects chimiques et biochimiques en Poccurrence Pacidite de Pestomac et les enzymes digestives. La flore bacterienne presente sur la peau et les muqueuses est egalement consideree comme une barriere physique, puisqu’elle protege Porganisme des microorganismes pathogenes en leur faisant concurrence. Plusieurs types de cellules immunitaires sont partie integrate de la reponse innee, car sans repondre specifiquement, elles vont phagocyter les agents pathogenes en general et proceder a leur destruction. Du nombre, on compte les granulocytes neutrophiles, basophiles et eosinophiles. Les monocytes engendreront les macrophages et les cellules dendritiques, des types cellulaires necessaires pour activer la transition de la reponse immunitaire innee vers une reponse immunitaire adaptative. Ces deux types de cellules vont ingerer les agents pathogenes, les detruire, puis eduquer les cellules lymphoides pour que celles-ci produisent une reponse specifique contre le pathogene. La degradation des agents pathogenes par les macrophages s’effectue a l’aide des lysosomes presents dans le macrophage. Apres que la cellule ait phagocyte les bacteries, celles-ci se retrouvent a l’interieur de vesicules appelees phagosomes. Lors de la maturation des phagosomes, ceux-ci fusionnent avec les lysosomes. Le contenu des vesicules lysosomales etant compose d ’enzymes et de produits antimicrobiens en plus de comporter un pH acide contribuera a la degradation de tout organisme present a l’interieur du phago-lysosome. Le recrutement de pompes a protons a la membrane du phagosome coopereront egalement a acidifier le milieu interne de la vesicule de fusion (Sun-W adaet al., 2009). 16 2.3. La reponse immunitaire adaptative La reponse adaptative debute au moment ou les cellules presentatrices d ’antigenes (CPA) ont digere le pathogene et presentent a leur surface les complexes majeurs d ’histocompatibilite (CMH) liant un peptide provenant du pathogene. Les cellules appelees lymphocytes T provenant de la lignee lymphoide sont chargees de reconnaitre ces complexes a l’aide du recepteur des cellules T (TCR) et d ’engendrer la reponse immunitaire requise. S’il s’agit d ’un pathogene intracellulaire, le peptide sera lie a un CMH de classe 1 (CMH-I), alors que dans le cas d ’un pathogene extracellulaire, le peptide sera lie a un CMH de classe 2 (CMH-II). Ainsi, deux types cellulaires differents, provenant de la lignee lymphocytaire, seront aptes a reconnaitre le CMH-I ou le CMH-II. Dans le cas ou un CMH-I est presente a la surface de la CPA, ce sont les lymphocytes T ayant le corecepteur CD8 qui seront capables de reconnaitre ce CMH-I et ils amorceront une reponse de type cytotoxique. Lorsque 1’antigene est presente via un CMH-II, le processus est totalement different. Generalement il sera reconnu par les lymphocytes T munis du corecepteur CD4 qui assureront la mise en place de la reponse immunitaire la plus efficace possible. Pour y parvenir, une interaction avec la CPA est necessaire. Apres liaison du CMH-II avec le TCR, un signal est envoye a la CPA qui procedera a la secretion de cytokines. Les cytokines sont les proteines qui assurent une communication entre les cellules du systeme immunitaire. Par exemple, certaines, telles que 1’interleukine 8 (IL-8), servent d’agents chimio-attractants (Van Damme et al., 1989), d’autres telles que l’IL-2, amorceront une proliferation cellulaire (Ettinghausen et al., 1985), alors que l’IL-12 et l’IL4 servent de signal de differenciation cellulaire (Hsieh et al., 1993). 2.4. Les lymphocytes T auxiliaires (Th) Suivant le signal transfere par les recepteurs de surface des CPA (CMH-I ou CMH-II), celles-ci produiront une gamme de cytokines tres differentes selon le type de reponse immunitaire requise. Ainsi, s’il s’agit d ’un pathogene extracellulaire, la reponse immunitaire etablie sera une reponse humorale. II y aura done production d ’anticorps diriges contre le pathogene pour le neutraliser et favoriser sa degradation par les macrophages. La neutralisation se fait par opsonisation, e’est-a-dire que les anticorps vont se Her en grand nombre au pathogene et ainsi former un complexe immun qui sera mieux 17 reconnu par les cellules ayant pour role de degrader les agents pathogenes. Dans le cas d ’un pathogene intracellulaire, il y aura favorisation de la voie cytotoxique ayant pour but d ’enrayer la presence de cellules infectees. Pour assurer l’activation d’une reponse adequate selon le genre d’infection en place, le systeme immunitaire s’est muni d ’un type cellulaire mediant l’activation d ’une voie ou de l’autre. Ces cellules font partie de la lignee des lymphocytes T exprimant le recepteur CD4 et elles sont appelees lymphocytes T auxiliaires (Th). Jusqu’a tout recemment, deux types de lymphocytes Th etaient connus, soit les types 1 (Thi) et les types 2 (Th2 >. Au cours des demieres annees, les Thn, Th9 et Th22 furent decou verts, cependant leurs roles sont moins bien connus. Les cellules T h l7 sont cependant les plus etudiees des trois derniers types decouverts, ayant ete identifiees comme etant impliquees dans une multitude de maladies inflammatoires chroniques telles que les maladies intestinales inflammatoires (colon irritable) (Caprioli et al., 2008), la maladie de Crohn (Brand, 2009) ainsi que l’arthrite rhumatoide (van Hamburg et al., 2011). Pour bien comprendre le role des lymphocytes T auxiliaires, il est utile de connaitre leur developpement. Tout d ’abord, avant d ’avoir rencontre un CMH-I sur une CPA qui est complementaire a leur TCR, les lymphocytes T CD4 sont dits nai'fs, car ils ne se sont pas encore differencies en cellules effectrices. Une liaison efficace des lymphocytes T nai'fs au CMH-I ou CMH-II de la CPA aura pour effet d’amorcer la secretion de cytokines, tel que mentionne precedemment. Ces cytokines different selon le signal re9 u d ’un CMH-I ou d ’un CMH-II. Dans le cas d’une liaison d ’un lymphocyte T naif au CMH-I, la CPA percevra le signal de devoir produire l’IL-12. Cette cytokine a pour effet d ’initier la differenciation du lymphocyte T naif en lymphocyte Thi, en plus d’inhiber la possibility d ’une differenciation en lymphocyte Th2 . L’inhibition de la voie Th2 se fera via la secretion d ’interferon-gamma (IFN-y). L’effet contraire se produit lors d ’une liaison a un CMH-II qui resulte en la secretion d ’IL-4 stimulant la differenciation du lymphocyte T naif en lymphocyte Th2 effecteur tout en restreignant la voie T hi (Ouyang et al., 1998). Ces mecanismes d ’inhibition d’une voie pendant l’activation de l’autre sont regules par l’acetylation (Fields et al., 2002) et la methylation (Jones et Chen, 2006) des histones d ’un locus particulier empechant la liaison du facteur de transcription associe a cette voie. Les infections ou les causes menant a la differenciation des lymphocytes en Thg, Thn et Th22 sont moins bien etablies. Cependant, les cytokines requises pour les Thn sont bien connues. En effet, lorsque les 18 lymphocytes se trouvent dans un environnement riche en TGF-(3, IL -1p, IL-6 et IL-23, ils se differencient en lymphocytes Thi7 (Guo et al., 2012, Mus et al., 2010). L’activation de la differenciation en chacun des types de lymphocytes T auxiliaires se fait via une liaison des cytokines requises a un recepteur STAT (Signal transducer and activator of transcription) qui activera des facteurs de transcription appropries. Par exemple, la liaison de l’IL-12 a STAT-4 aura pour effet d’activer le facteur de transcription T-bet et resultera en une differenciation du lymphocyte T naif en lymphocyte Thi (Zhu et al., 2012). De meme, lorsque STAT-4 enverra son signal intracellulaire, il y aura inhibition des facteurs de transcription GATA-3 et ROR-yt qui sont les facteurs de transcription menant respectivement a la generation des lignees Th2 et Thn (Murphy et Reiner, 2002). La figure 2 presente divers recepteurs cellulaires ainsi que les facteurs de transcription requis pour chacune des voies Thi, Th2 et Thi7 . Suivant leur differenciation, les lymphocytes T naifs debuteront l’expression d’un patron de cytokines specifiques a leur type. Les lymphocytes Thi produiront majoritairement de l’IFN-y (Yang et al., 1999), l’IL-4 pour les Th2 (Guo et al., 2002) et les Thn produiront TIL-17 (Korn et al., 2009). Ces cytokines ont des actions sur d’autres types cellulaires dont les details seront rapportes subsequemment. Bases moleculaires du developpement en TH1, TH2 et TH17 STAT-l, STAT 4 et T-bet sont requis pour la differentiation en TH1 STAT-6 et GATA-3 sont requis pour la differentiation en TH2 STAT 3, ROR yt et ROR-a sont requis pour la differentiation en TH17 3*3 ^ 3*3 ^ Differentiation en TH1 Differentiation en TH2 Differentiation en TH17 Figure 2 : Voies de signalisation impliquees dans le developpement des lymphocytes T auxiliaires. Recepteurs membranaires requis ainsi que les facteurs de transcription actives pour la differenciation des voies de lymphocytes auxiliaire de type 1 (Thi), 2 (Thi) et 17 (Thl7). Adapte d ’Awasthi et al. (2008). 19 2.5. Role des lymphocytes T auxiliaires Suite a leur differenciation, les lymphocytes T auxiliaires subissent une etape de proliferation intense appelee expansion clonale, dont les particularites ne seront pas exposees. Cette etape est tout de meme cruciale pour engendrer une reponse immunitaire la plus efficace possible. Suite a cette expansion, les lymphocytes T auxiliaires executeront le role pour lequel ils ont ete crees, c’est-a-dire agir en tant que mediateurs de l’immunite. En ce sens, lorsqu’ils se rendront a nouveau au site d ’infection, ils s’y rendront en grand nombre et procederont a l’activation de differents types cellulaires selon leurs competences dans le genre de reponse requise. Dans le cas d ’une infection intracellulaire, ce sera les lymphocytes T CD8 qui seront actives (Nagata et Koide, 2010) a proceder a la destruction des cellules infectees (Figure 3). Lors des reponses cytotoxiques, les macrophages seront egalement actives a degrader un maximum de bacteries avant qu’elles n ’aient le temps d ’etablir l’infection (Janeway et al., 2001). D ’une maniere semblable, lorsqu’un pathogene extracellulaire procedera a l’invasion d’un hote, les lymphocytes Th2 actives stimuleront les lymphocytes B a produire des anticorps (figure 3) a 1’aide de recepteurs de surface et de cytokines. 20 Lymphocyte B Cellule infectee Cellule presentatrice d’antigine MHC I + ag C08 TCR MHC II ♦ ag C04TCR 87.1/87.2 C028 P rt-hm phoole T cytotoxique MHC II + ag CD4TCR 11-2 IL-12 IFN-y TN F-a Th. B7.1/B7.2 C028 a 1 11-4,IL-5 IL-6, IL- 10 TGF-P Lymphocyte T naif O P ro d u c t km d ’a n tico rp s Lymphocyte T cytotoxique Plasmocyte Lymphocyte B m£moire Figure 3 : Voies de differenciations des lymphocytes T nai'fs en lymphocytes T effecteurs. Representation des etapes menant a l’implantation d’une reponse cytotoxique, via les lymphocytes Thi ou humorale, via les lymphocytes Th2 - Adapte de De Haes et al. (2012). L’action des lymphocytes B, contrairement a celle des cellules mediant la reponse cytotoxique, ne se fait en general pas au site d ’infection, mais bien dans un organe lymphoide secondaire. Suite a la stimulation, une partie des lymphocytes B deviendront des cellules nommees plasmocytes alors que d ’autres se differencieront en lymphocytes B memoire. Les plasmocytes ont pour role la secretion massive d ’anticorps qui procederont a la neutralisation du pathogene contre lequel ils sont diriges (Alberts et al., 2002). Quant aux lymphocytes B memoires, ils resideront dans les organes lymphoides secondaires en attendant une stimulation ulterieure. Lors d ’une infection subsequente, ils reagiront beaucoup plus rapidement que lors de la reponse initiale produisant ainsi une reponse humorale rapide. 21 2.6. Regulation negative de l’inflammation Suite a l’induction d ’une reponse immunitaire, l’arrivee d ’un bon nombre de cellules immunitaires aura pour effet de generer une inflammation. Cette inflammation est necessaire pour resoudre le plus rapidement possible 1’infection, cependant si elle persiste, elle sera nefaste a l’homeostasie du tissu dans lequel elle se trouve. Un groupe de cellules dont il n’a pas encore ete question est responsable de ce desequilibre. II s’agit des granulocytes. Plusieurs types cellulaires en font partie, dont les neutrophiles en grande majorite, mais egalement les eosinophiles et les basophiles. La lignee des granulocytes est la plus destructrice, car lors de leur arrivee au site d ’infection, ces cellules remplies de molecules antimicrobiennes procederont a 1’excretion de plusieurs produits reactifs dans le milieu extracellulaire. Ces produits tels les reactifs oxygenes (ROS), les gelatinases, du lyzozyme, de la proteinase-3 auront pour effet d’induire des degats considerables aux tissus avoisinants (Bergamini et al., 2004). C ’est pour cette raison qu’un type de lymphocytes T existe dans le but d ’attenuer la reaction d ’inflammation quelque temps apres son induction, pour ainsi reduire les risques de destruction tissulaire. Ces cellules se nomment les lymphocytes T regulateurs (Treg). Comme mentionne precedemment, quelques heures apres l’induction de la reponse immunitaire, les lymphocytes Trt>g procederont a l’expression de cytokines ayant pour fonction de desamorcer les types cellulaires ayant produit l’etat d’inflammation (Massa et al., 2007). Ainsi, les cytokines anti-inflammatoires telles que l’IL-10 ainsi que le TGF-P seront produites par les lymphocytes Trt?g et inhiberont les cellules Thi et Th2 (Fiorentino et al., 1991, van Scott et al., 2000). En regulant negativement les cellules secretant les cytokines pro-inflammatoires, le systeme immunitaire essaie d ’eviter la creation de foyers inflammatoires. Cependant, dans les cas ou les CPA ne cessent de produire le signal indiquant la presence de corps etrangers, il arrive que Faction des lymphocytes Tregne soit pas assez efficace pour controler l’inflammation. 3. PATHOGENESE DE LA PARATUBERCULOSE 3.1. Infection initiale Tel que mentionne precedemment, l’infection par MAP se fait le plus souvent via Fingestion de matieres contaminees. Ainsi, le pathogene se retrouve dans le tractus gastro- 22 intestinal et initiera son processus infectieux. Plus precisement, 1’infection se loge dans le petit intestin, soit dans la region terminale de l’ileon que MAP penetrera dans les plaques de Peyer (Sigurethardottir et al., 2004). Les plaques de Peyer sont des organes lymphoides secondaires responsables d’initier la reponse immunitaire dans l’intestin. Les bacteries presentes dans 1’intestin penetreront dans les organes lymphoides secondaires par la membrane epitheliale, au niveau des cellules M (Figure 4); (Momotani et al., 1988). Injectiond’effecteursparT3SS, T4SS etT 6SS Invasion et transcvtose r Lumen intestinal o ^ Couchede mucus follicules ffet sur le cytosquelette lisaticm, la taireetles v^.» © brechedans la barriere 6pith£lialeet invasion tissolaire © © Lymphocyte B Lymphocyte T —I _ £ ) ^ @ Cellules dendritiques' Plaque d« Peyer ■y C ellules presentatrice d ’antigene Lamina propria Figure 4 : Schema representant 1’invasion tissulaire de plusieurs bacteries intestinales. L’entree de Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis dans les plaques de Peyer s’effectue en passant par les cellules M tapissant ces organes lymphoides secondaires. Modifiee de Nell et al. (2010). 23 Suivant son intrusion dans les plaques de Peyer, le pathogene sera pris en charge par les macrophages et les cellules dendritiques charges de proceder a 1’education du systeme immunitaire. Cette education evite de creer des reactions immunitaires indesirables contre les bacteries commensales, tout en s’assurant de proceder a une clairance efficace des bacteries potentiellement pathogenes. En temps normal, les macrophages ont pour objectif de digerer les agents pathogenes et de proceder a la presentation antigenique aux lymphocytes T. Cependant, une aptitude de MAP est de parvenir a echapper aux mecanismes de degradation et arrive de ce fait a se nicher a l’interieur des macrophages et s’y reproduire tranquillement sans activer le systeme immunitaire. II a ete etabli que MAP interfere lors de la fusion du phagosome au lysosome, ce qui compromet l’apport d ’enzymes ainsi que 1’acidification du phagosome necessaire a la degradation des pathogenes (Kuehnel et al., 2001, Sturgill-Koszycki et al., 1994). Le processus d’autophagie est egalement sabote et les macrophages ainsi deroutes ne procederont pas efficacement a la destruction de MAP qui en profite pour s’y multiplier lentement. Neanmoins, les macrophages parviennent a amorcer une reponse innee, probablement par l ’activation de recepteurs membranaires reconnaissant les patrons membranaires bacteriens lors de la liaison de MAP a ceux-ci (Machugh et al., 2012, Weiss et al., 2008). Cela a pour effet d ’induire un appel de monocytes au site d’infection qui provoquera une inflammation locale. Des ce moment, la formation de granulomes est amorcee etant donne la colonisation massive des plaques de Peyer par les cellules immunitaires. Grace a cet appel de cellules, MAP se retrouve avec une grande quantite de monocytes et macrophages a infecter dans un endroit tres restreint, ce qui favorisera la progression de l’infection. De surcroit, le pathogene evite ainsi d’avoir a se deplacer hors des plaques de Peyer et risquer de provoquer une reponse immunitaire acquise efficace dirigee contre lui. Ce phenomene d ’inflammation locale aura pour effet de causer l’epaississement des muqueuses intestinales qui est une caracteristique observee lors de necropsies des animaux en phases avancees de la maladie de Johne. 3.2. Initialisation de la reponse immunitaire Des l’implantation de MAP dans les plaques de Peyer, le systeme immunitaire de l’hote semble se deregler. Les experts ne s’accordent toujours pas pour etablir le mecanisme 24 general. Certains d’entre eux pretendent qu’une phase pro-inflammatoire serait mise en place dans les premiers jours suivant l’entree du pathogene dans le tissu intestinal (Coussens, 2001). Cette inflammation serait provoquee par une secretion intense de cytokines pro-inflammatoire telles que TNF-a, IL-1P et IL-6 par les macrophages ayant reconnu MAP a l’interieur des plaques de Peyer (Coussens, 2001). Certains autres proposent plutot une periode d’inhibition du systeme immunitaire par la secretion massive d’IL-10 (Stabel et Robbe-Austerman, 2011) par les lymphocytes T regulateurs dans le but de permettre a MAP d ’entrer dans les macrophages sans produire de reponse immunitaire aigiie. Le second modele etant beaucoup plus recent, il est tres peu decrit et pour cette raison ce sera le premier modele qui sera decrit plus en detail. Toutefois, afin de bien comprendre 1’integration des resultats obtenus lors du projet, il est crucial de garder en tete que le modele presentement accepte pourrait etre appele a subir des modifications. 3.3. L ’evolution de la paratuberculose bovine Selon la theorie proposant une phase pro-inflammatoire en debut d ’infection, la reponse immunitaire en place dans ces premiers temps serait une reponse de type Thi. Elle est representee par un potentiel eleve de secretion d ’IFN-Y par les cellules mononucleees isolees du sang peripherique (PBMC) mises en culture, puis stimulees avec une culture de MAP soniquee (Stabel, 1996). Afin d ’evaluer le type de reponse en place, le dosage d’lFNy ainsi que de 1TL-10 suite a la stimulation a couramment ete utilise (Coussens et al., 2004, Stabel, 2000). Une secretion d’IFN-Y etant attribute a une reponse de type Thi et celle d ’IL10 etait associee a une reponse de type Th2 - Le ratio IL-10/IFN-y ainsi obtenu appuyait l’augmentation de la reponse de type T h2 au cours de la progression de la maladie. Selon ce theoreme, les vaches presentent d’abord une reponse de type Thi qui serait remplacee par une reponse de type Th2 au fur et a mesure que la maladie evolue. Cette hypothese est egalement appuyee sur le fait qu’au debut de la maladie la grande majorite des vaches infectees ne presentent aucune reponse humorale vis-a-vis du pathogene. Puis dans les annees suivant l’infection, les anticorps diriges contre MAP se retrouvent peu a peu dans le sang des animaux infectes et ceux-ci deviennent ainsi positifs au test diagnostique serologique. Cependant, au moment d ’etablir les ratios IL-10/IFN-y, la secretion d ’IL-10 etait attribute a tort aux lymphocytes Th2 - La decouverte des lymphocytes Treg a depuis 25 change la vision de l’IL-10 et il a ete etabli que cette cytokine serait plutot majoritairement secretee par les lymphocytes Treg (Maynard et al., 2007). Aucune etude n’a repris le ratio IFN-y avec IL-4 qui est dorenavant connu comme etant une cytokine specifiquement secretee par les lymphocytes Th2 - Toutefois, depuis quelques annees, des etudes tendent a demontrer 1’implication les lymphocytes Thn dans la chronicite de la maladie. Cet aspect est d’autant plus interessant que plusieurs maladies inflammatoires chroniques humaines sont une consequence du dereglement de l’equilibre des lymphocytes Thn- Entre autre, l’arthrite rhumatoi'de, les maladies inflammatoires intestinales et la maladie de Crohn. 3.4. Genes de susceptibilite a la paratuberculose Comme c’est le cas pour plusieurs infections bacteriennes et virales, il existe des mutations dans certains genes ayant pour consequence d ’augmenter la susceptibilite a l’infection par MAP. La majorite des genes portant de telles mutations sont relies a l’immunite. Certaines mutations surviennent dans des genes agissant au niveau de la detection de pathogenes, en l’occurrence les recepteurs Toll-like (Mucha et al., 2009) et NOD-2/CARD15 (Pinedo et al., 2009, Ruiz-Larranaga et al., 2010). D ’autres sont impliques directement dans la reponse immunitaire tel BoLA-DRB3 (Rastislav et Mangesh, 2012), dont la proteine fait partie du groupe des MHC-II responsables de la presentation d ’antigenes extracellulaires. Des proteines sont egalement essentielles pour inhiber la croissance bacterienne a l’interieur des macrophages pendant les phases d ’infection initiales notamment NRAMP1 (Paixao et al., 2007). D est interessant de noter que NRAMP1 est un gene affecte par des polymorphismes menant a sa defaillance dans les cas de maladies inflammatoires intestinales humaines egalement (Stewart et al., 2010). Les polymorphismes ne se limitent pas aux genes essentiels pour la detection du pathogene ou l’inhibition de sa proliferation. Certaines mutations ponctuelles ont ete retrouvees dans des genes codants pour des proteines ayant un role dans 1’orchestration d ’une reponse immunitaire efficace. Par exemple, le recepteur de l’IL-10 possede une region polymorphique associee a une susceptibilite accrue pour la paratuberculose (Verschoor et al., 2010). Par ailleurs, il existe des genes qui semblent inferer une susceptibilite non pas a MAP en particulier, mais aux mycobacteries en general. C ’est le cas de 1’osteopontine qui est une proteine aux multiples facettes encodee par le gene SPP1. Effectivement, l’osteopontine est 26 impliquee dans un grand nombre de processus, que ce soit dans la cicatrisation (Liaw et al., 1998), le remodelage tissulaire (Kohan et al., 2009) ou bien meme dans 1’activation precoce des lymphocytes T (O'Regan et al., 2000, Patarca et al., 1989). Des etudes ont demontre que des souris transgeniques dont le gene SPP1 a ete inactive possedent une plus grande susceptibilite a l’infection par des pathogenes intracellulaires (Nau et al., 1999). Dans le cas de la paratuberculose, l’osteopontine pourrait s’averer importante puisqu’elle semble jouer un role crucial dans la detection ou le controle des mycobacteries (Karcher et al., 2008). Etant donne son implication a activer precocement les lymphocytes T dans le cas d ’infection, cette proteine est potentiellement une cible de choix pour les pathogenes desirant se cacher sans etre detectes. En resume, les genes proferant une susceptibilite accrue aux infections a MAP prennent part a differentes etapes regissant la reponse immunitaire face aux pathogenes. Dans le meme ordre d’idee, plusieurs mutations peuvent egalement inferer une resistance accrue a 1’infection par MAP. II n’en demeure pas moins qu’un animal ayant une mutation dans un gene lui procurant une susceptibilite accrue ne se retrouvera pas assurement infecte apres ingestion de matieres contaminees. En effet, l’implantation ou non de la maladie repose sur une multitude de facteurs notamment la susceptibilite genetique. 3.5. Zoonose de la paratuberculose Au cours de la derniere decennie, il s’est tenu un grand debat a savoir si MAP etait potentiellement transferable a l’etre humain en causant sensiblement les memes signes cliniques que ceux apparents chez les bovins. II a ete clairement etabli que la bacterie peut se retrouver en quantite detectable dans les feces d ’etres humains (Tuci et al., 2011), cependant il n’est pas aussi evident de faire un parallele entre la presence de MAP dans les feces et une maladie inflammatoire intestinale humaine. La maladie de Crohn chez l’humain presente des similarites avec la paratuberculose bovine et a souvent ete etudiee pour tenter d’arriver a definir si MAP etait un acteur potentiel dans le developpement de cette maladie. Des mutations conferant une susceptibilite a la maladie dans des genes relies a 1’immunite contre les mycobacteries comme NOD-2 (Ferwerda et al., 2007), IL23R (Yamazaki et al., 2007) ainsi que ATG16L1 (Massey et Parkes, 2007) laissent croire qu’une bacterie telle que MAP pourrait etre impliquee dans cette maladie. II est interessant 27 de constater que ces memes genes sont egalement associes a une susceptibilite accrue pour la paratuberculose chez les bovins. Par contre, plusieurs aspects rendent l’association directe plutot ardue. Tout d ’abord, Bull et al. (Bull et al., 2003) ont detecte la presence de la bacterie dans 26% des patients controles remettant en perspective toute association entre la maladie et la presence de MAP. De plus, il aurait ete logique de retrouver une plus grande proportion de fermiers atteints de la maladie de Crohn sur les fermes ou la paratuberculose est presente. Cependant, les ratios de personnes atteintes ne different pas de la population ne se retrouvant pas en contact direct avec ces animaux (Jones et al., 2006). Par ailleurs, meme s’il est complique d’etablir avec certitude une relation entre 1’infection par MAP et le developpement d’une maladie intestinale, la presence de la bacterie vivante dans le sang de patients atteints de la maladie de Crohn ou de colite ulcereuse represente un plus grand pourcentage que chez les patients sains (Naser et al., 2004). 3.6. Objectifs et hypotheses Dans le projet qui m ’a ete attribue, les objectifs etaient de mieux comprendre la destabilisation du systeme immunitaire survenant lors d’infection par MAP en premier lieu. L ’hypothese que les cellules immunitaires isolees du sang peripherique se comporteraient de maniere differente en presence de serum de vaches infectees en comparaison a du serum de vaches saines a ete emise. Dans un deuxieme temps, la concentration serologique de certaines cytokines a ete mesuree afin de mesurer des differences entre les groupes de vaches etablis lors du diagnostic. Effectivement, un aspect fort interessant de l’etude est que lors du diagnostic, deux outils ont ete utilises, ce qui a permis la classification des vaches en trois groupes. Les vaches diagnostiquees negatives par les deux tests, les vaches positives uniquement en culture fecale et finalement les vaches diagnostiquees positives par les deux methodes, soit la culture fecale et le depistage serologique (ELISA). Etant donne que 1’ELISA detecte les vaches qui sont en general dans un stade plus avance de la maladie, celles-ci ont ete considerees dans un groupe distinct. L’hypothese soutenant le dosage des cytokines sanguines etait que la progression de la maladie n’apportait pas vraiment une derive d’une reponse Thi vers Th2 au cours de l’infection, mais qu’il y aurait probablement une implication des lymphocytes Thi7 , comme c’est le cas pour plusieurs maladies inflammatoires chroniques. Dans cet ordre d ’idee, la reponse genique des macrophages face 28 a l’infection par le pathogene apporterait une precision quant a savoir s’il etait possible que certaines voies lymphocytaires soient preferentiellement mise en place des les premieres heures suivant l’infection par MAP. L’osteopontine sanguine a ete mesuree pour arriver a determiner s’il etait possible qu’elle soit impliquee dans le developpement de la chronicite de la maladie. AVANT-PROPOS DU PREM IER ARTICLE Haplotypes of the bovine osteopontin gene affect the level of OPN secreted into milk and the host macrophage immune response Auteurs de Particle : Pier-Luc Dudemaine, Karin Alain, Catherine Thibault et Nathalie Bissonnette Statut de Particle : Soumis la revue BMC Genomics le 6 mai 2013 avec le numero de soumission 1900205853973017. Avant-propos : La premiere ebauche d ’un article qui fut amalgame dans un second temps a un deuxieme a ete redigee par Pier-Luc Dudemaine. La fusion des deux etudes fut effectuee par Mme Nathalie Bissonnette. Concernant le travail experimental, 1’organisation des phases animates et le travail attribue a la mise au point de l’outil de dosage (ELISA) ainsi que la quantification de l’osteopontine ont ete effectuees par M. Pier-Luc Dudemaine. L’optimisation de la methode d’isolement de macrophages differencies a partir de monocytes sanguins a egalement ete realisee par M. Pier-Luc Dudemaine. Mme Karin Alain avait clone et caracterise les haplotypes du gdne SPP1. Les constructions de vecteurs, les transfections ainsi que l’optimisation de la methode qRT-PCR sont le travail de Mme Catherine Thibault, assistante de recherche. a u.'tviuiftoa ' _ SHERBROOKE AUTOmSATXON B U ftfclM IIO ft ix u n a r t i c l e t o u r r a t c o u a e o i u t x o m A u * n tm a m o u u r n T w i n H aototvpeaofthaSPPI gene affect the ostaopbntin level tn bovine milk and the macrophage Immune response reoanna**(raoonrateon*)quatoftartkdtsaraInduscommaparti*oonsdtuantadumtnatm QD d iltlM p t □ de r#udtoit(e) (nan): Ptar-Luc Dudemaine________________________________________ ta o t(t) au programmed* Blochimte_______________ ______________________________________ defeFfcultfda M ddadneetadonoaadetteanti •_____________dalUnfcmnftidaSherbrooto Bn Itt da quot, im (nouaawoM)Ponte* angagMMrtten un noRtra^Mtltaanl d'ceraM ae* II ^ I**" Coontowifri i f c w t i > — — " i . i A i— I. ......................... in . I I . . — ■ A°«»=2013-06^)3 ^ Nathalie Bissonnette_____________ ______________ ___ ___ 2000 rue du College Sherbrooke. QC, Canada J1M 0C8 ggnab** / 7 J ________ 0***- 2013-06-^ Mom Catherine Thibault awfcnntoe 2000 rue du College___________________________________ _ Shmbrooka. QC. Canada J1M0C8 S gw tw A ^ _________________ ;___ <*** 2013-05-O l Mom Karin Alain Q »*nn< a 2000 rue duC oieoe Sherbrooke. QC. Canada J 1M PCS Sgnabune Mom Obordomte Date: . . . . ... ---------------- * Un etampteir* pour r&udbnte^ K&udlant, un ©cemplalnt pour cheque personne sJgretalre «t un m ntptafo pour fe Service <fes bMotfiiques (I ramettrt avac le m tm eirew la thfcse au moment du depeft final). RESUME DU PREM IER ARTICLE L’article porte sur l’etude de l’expression de l’osteopontine (OPN) dans le lait, le sang et les macrophages bovins, en relation avec les variations genetiques situees dans son promoteur. L ’osteopontine, codee par le gene SPP1, est associe a l’imumunite et consideree comme une cytokine impliquee au debut de 1’infection bacterienne. Plusieurs polymorphismes (SNP) ont ete recenses dans la sequence entourant le gene et une grande proportion de ces polymorphismes se retrouvent dans sa region promotrice. II a ete rapporte que la genetique du promoteur pourrait influencer la sante de la glande mammaire, puisque certains haplotypes (H3) du gene presentent une cote de cellules somatiques (CCS) plus elevee que d’autres (Alain et al., 2009). La CCS represente le nombre de cellules somatiques infiltrees dans le lait et elle augmente drastiquement lors d ’infections bacteriennes intra-mammaires, ce qui en fait un indicateur de sante de la glande mammaire. Ainsi, sachant que certains haplotypes semblent demontrer une plus grande susceptibilite aux infections, il est envisageable que les taux d ’OPN dans le lait et le sang varient. Consequemment, il serait fort possible que son expression soit regulee differemment selon la presence de SNP situes au site de reconnaissance de facteurs de transcription. La proteine etant abondamment secretee dans le lait, le genotype du promoteur a potentiellement un effet sur la production de la proteine dans le lait. Egalement, l’OPN etant un facteur immunitaire ayant un role lors des infections bacteriennes, il serait possible que les polymorphismes influencent la reponse immunitaire face aux pathogenes, dont celui causant la paratuberculose bovine. Dans un premier temps, la genetique du promoteur de l’OPN ne semble pas influencer la production de lait, puisqu’il n’y a aucune difference entre les trois haplotypes etudies. II est tout de meme interessant de noter qu’en fin de lactation, il semble y avoir une tendance a produire plus de lait pour les vaches ayant la genetique H lxH 4. Lors de l’analyse en immunobuvardage de la proteine provenant du lait, aucune difference entre les isoformes presents n ’a ete observee, indiquant que 1’etat de la proteine secretee ne change pas au cours de la lactation. 32 Au niveau de la concentration d’OPN dans le lait, les vaches genotypees H lxH 4, H lx H l et H2xH3 presentent des differences au niveau des concentrations dans le lait. Pendant la periode couvrant les semaines 25 a 30 de lactation, les niveaux sont plus eleves chez les vaches ayant l’haplotype H lxH 4 (P < 0.05). Etant donne la tendance a produire plus de lait en fin de lactation pour les vaches H lxH 4, la comparaison de la quantite totale produite est interessante. Cette donnee correspond a la concentration multipliee par la quantite de lait produite et presente des differences qui s’etendent jusqu’a la fin de la lactation, soit la semaine 37 (P < 0.05). Le plasma quant a lui ne presente pas de difference entre les haplotypes au cours de la lactation en plus d ’avoir un taux basal tres constant, demontrant que 1’augmentation dans le lait ne provient pas d ’une augmentation de la concentration sanguine. L’analyse de l’expression de genes chez les macrophages bovins en reponses a differents stimuli a montre que la genetique de 1’OPN etait potentiellement liee a son expression en reponse a certaines stimulations in vitro. II a egalement ete possible de montrer un lien hypothetique entre la genetique du gene SPP1 et d ’autres proteines impliquees dans les reponses immunitaires, telles que l’IL-6 et NOD-2. Cet aspect amene une facette tres interessante de la regulation de l’immunite, puisque l’OPN est une molecule ayant des roles sur plusieurs types cellulaires distincts. Finalement, il a ete possible d ’observer que la genetique du promoteur de l’OPN amene des differences d ’activite en reponse au facteur de transcription SP1. Effectivement, les haplotypes etudies presentent des differences au niveau des activites de la region promotrice lors de l’ajout de SP1. Ainsi, il est possible de constater qu’il existe bel et bien une relation entre la genetique du promoteur et son activite, et ce au niveau genotypique, mais egalement au niveau phenotypique represente par la secretion dans le lait. PREM IER ARTICLE Running head: HAPLOTYPES AND OSTEOPONTIN SECRETION INTO MILK Title: Haplotypes of the bovine osteopontin gene affect the level of OPN secreted into milk and the host macrophage immune response P. L. Dudemaine,* C. Thibault,f K. Alain,* and N. Bissonnette*! *Departement de biochimie, Faculte de medecine et des sciences de la sante, Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 fDairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada JIM 1Z3 34 Abstract Background. Osteopontin (OPN) is found in nearly all body fluids and secreted by a variety of cells and tissues. The role of OPN as a cytokine was first described as an early component of the T-cell activation factor. Enhanced in T cells, OPN recruits macrophages at the infection site and improves cell-mediated immunity by inducing secretion of Tm cytokines. OPN is now recognized as an important proinflammatory cytokine with pleiotropic functions that include pathogen clearance and wound healing. In a previous study, we identified haplotypes of the OPN gene and found that OPN genetics was associated with the milk somatic-cell score of the Holstein breed of dairy cattle. This parameter is used to estimate the genetic value of the number of somatic cells in milk as an indicator of udder health. Our study assessed whether the genotype of the OPN gene promoter had an impact on transcriptional activity, immune response, or the level of OPN secreted into milk. Results. Cows were grouped according to the OPN haplotypes associated with a high (H2xH3), average (H lx H l), or low (H lxH 4) somatic-cell score. Plasma concentration and the amount of OPN secreted in milk were measured throughout lactation. As the OPN level increased in late lactation, H lxH 4 cows associated with a low estimated breeding value for somatic-cell score secreted greater amounts of OPN into milk and their macrophages were less prone to sustain a higher level of SPP1 and proinflammatory IL-6 transcripts under challenged conditions. The influence of DNA polymorphisms on the promoter activity of the OPN gene was confirmed in vitro. Conclusions. An inverse correlation between the OPN milk level during late lactation and the breeding value estimated for somatic cells was found, with an elevated OPN level associated with a lower SCS being favorable. The early T-cell activator and leukocyte recruitment properties of OPN during late lactation may be beneficial for reducing the incidence of infection during the transition period. When coupled with proven udder-health management programs, genetics that influence the immune-cell response in milk could help reduce mastitis or other health problems associated with the transition period. Key words: osteopontin, haplotype, dairy milk, macrophage, immune response 35 Background Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted glycoprotein with cell-binding properties that regulates activities through integrin (Liaw et al., 1995) or other cell receptors such as the CD44 immune ligand (Khan et al., 2005). Since it was first identified as a component of mineralized tissues (e.g. bone), the phosphoglycoprotein OPN has been found secreted into numerous body fluids (e.g., saliva, plasma, bile, and milk) and by cells into a variety of tissues, including kidney, pancreas, brain, uterus, and several glands. Moreover, OPN is expressed in activated macrophages, lymphocytes, and natural killer cells (Patarca et al., 1993; Murry et al., 1994; Li et al., 2003). A variety of stimuli, including tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin (IL)-1p, IL-10, interferon gamma (IFN-y), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), are able to upregulate OPN expression (Denhardt and Noda, 1998; O'Regan and Berman, 2000; Li et al., 2003; Konno et al., 2006), but little is known about the impact of OPN gene variants on OPN expression in milk and in macrophages, the latter being a critical cell type in the development and modulation of immune responses. Several biological implications have been attributed to OPN, notably involvement in the initiation of the migration of macrophages and DCs to inflammation sites (Nau et al., 1997; Giachelli et al., 1998; Renkl et al., 2005). Because OPN induces key early type-1 factors produced by activated T cells, it was initially considered a T hi cytokine (Singh et al., 1990), which was later confirmed by studies using OPN knockout mice that shown reduced T Hi immune response and increased susceptibility to mycobacterial infection (Nau et al., 1999). In addition to its significance to immunity (Wang and Denhardt, 2008), OPN may have a broader integrative function, given that it influences wound healing (Liaw et al., 1998; Saika et al., 2007), cell survival and proliferation (Cho and Kim, 2009; Chiodoni et al., 2010), and tissue homeostasis (Qu and Chaikof, 2010). While expressed in several organs, OPN is highest in milk, assessed at 18 mg/L in dairy cows (Schack et al., 2009), and is 10 times higher in colostrum (Kumura et al., 2004). It has been suggested that the abundance of OPN in milk can be accounted for by the bioactivity of this protein and its roles in newborn immunity (Schack et al., 2009). Osteopontin’s potential to interact with ubiquitously expressed multiple cell-surface receptors makes it an active player in many physiological processes. 36 While osteopontin, a secreted intracellular protein, was found to be essential for mammarygland development (Nemir et al., 2000), its reported pleotropic roles suggest that OPN has a broader impact. Indeed, genetic variants of the OPN gene (SPP1) affect milk production and local immunity, as suggested by genomic studies (Schnabel et al., 2005; Alain et al., 2009). A previous study reported the detection of this abundant transcript early on in mastitis (Alain et al., 2009). Four DNA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified using the estimated breeding value (EBV) of the somatic-cell score (SCS), which is the most reliable information on udder health status and mastitis resistance (Heringstad et al., 2008). Three SNPs are located in the promoter of the SPP1 gene, defining the haplotypes H I, H2, and H3, which are the most common (93%) haplotypes in the Holstein bull population (Alain et al., 2009). The fourth SNP, located in the 3’ untranslated region (UTR), defines the minor allele H4 (5%), which shares the same genotype of the HI promoter. As OPN is thought to be a potential candidate gene for both production and immune traits, we hypothesized that haplotypes of the OPN gene promoter would influence the secretion of the protein into milk. Thus, cows carrying haplotypes associated with a high (HlxH 4) or low (H2xH3) EBV for SCS— which is an indicator of udder health— would exhibit differences not only for the OPN milk content but also with respect to immune response. Given OPN’s importance in many physiological processes, studying the impact of genetic variations on OPN secretion and the immune response contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms driving mammary-gland homeostasis. Taken together, all signs point toward an important role for OPN in the lactation process, hence this study’s importance and relevance. RESULTS M ilk yield and composition Days in milk did not differ between the H lxH 4 (322 ± 26), H2xH3 (313 ± 26), and H lx H l (298 ± 25) groups (P = 0.411). The amount of lactose, protein, or fat (yield and percentage) and somatic cell count did not differ overall by genetic group (data not shown). Daily milk yield increased, and milk yield peaked at nearly 50 days in milk, with no difference by group (P > 0.527; Figure 1). Thereafter, a gradual decrease in milk production was 37 observed until the last day of sampling. Weekly mean milk yields for the H lxH 4 cows were slightly higher (P < 0.05) at certain points, namely wk 14 and 16 and the period from wk 26 to 28 (Figure 1). 300 — Haplotype H2xH3 Haplotype HlxHl Haplotype HlxH4 250 - 200 - 00 150 - 100 - 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 Week of sampling Figure 1 Milk yield per week (kg/wk) measured for cows with haplotypes H2xH3, H lx H l, or HlxH4. Results are shown as means of total milk production for 7 d. Differences in milk yield between haplotypes (*P < 0.05) were observed at wk 14 and 16 and during wk 26 to 28. 38 Detection o f OPN in milk according to SPP1 haplotype Western blots were performed on the milk of each cow for wk 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40. No change in the profile of the isoforms of the protein was observed by immunoblotting during the course of the lactation period (Figure 2). A B M M 8 75 kDa 75 kDa 50 kDa 50 kDa 37 kDa 37 kDa Figure 2 Detection of osteopontin (OPN) by Western blot. Milk samples were analyzed by SDS-PAGE (12%) and detected following immunoblotting using commercial mouse antiOPN MAB193P. Lane M is the molecular marker (Precision Plus Protein All Blue Standard). In panel A, purified OPN from bovine milk is in lane 1, and commercial bovine OPN is in lane 2. In panel B, milk samples representing wk 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 of lactation are in lanes 1 to 9, respectively. The concentration of OPN in the colostrum was remarkably elevated (-1,000 mg/L) and decreased drastically by approximately 50 times by the second week (Figure 3A). The concentrations of OPN in milk rose slightly, but no difference according to the genetics of the cows was observed until wk 25. During wk 25 to 30, a marked difference (P < 0.05) was seen for the H lxH 4 cows compared with the other groups (Figure 3B). The distinct nature of the H lxH 4 group was further confirmed by the OPN value reported as the total amount of secreted OPN according to weekly milk yield (Figure 3C). The amount of secreted OPN was higher for the H lxH 4 cows than for the H2xH3 cows from wk 26 through to the end of lactation (P < 0.05). Osteopontin concentration (mg/L) Osteopontin concentration (mg/L) in o o o in O N J in o 10 in O * Q| NJ 3 CD ■o 3Q O Week of s a m p lin g < ftft N 0\J 7T O *J ID 00 u> v.O *O 40 r*" 7 0 ,0 0 0 H a p lo ty p e H 2xH 3 H a p lo ty p e H lx H l H a p lo ty p e H lx H 4 6 0 ,0 0 0 “> 5 0 ,0 0 0 z a . O "g 4 0 ,0 0 0 ro 3 0 ,0 0 0 II "1 k " 20,000 II 10,000 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 Week of sampling Figure 3 Osteopontin (OPN) concentration in milk from cows with haplotypes H2xH3, H lx H l, or H lxH 4 measured by sandwich ELISA. Concentrations measured throughout lactation are presented in panel A. Data for wk 18 to 40 are presented in panel B. The total amount of secreted OPN in milk for each haplotype group for wk 18 to 40 is presented in panel C. Concentrations are given in milligrams of OPN per liter of milk, and the error bars represent the standard error of the mean (±SEM). Significant differences are denoted by an asterisk (*P < 0.01). Evaluation o f plasm a OPN level during the lactation period For the recovery assay performed using a plasma sample, a systematic 10-fold reduction in the quantity of OPN was measured (data not shown). Each recovery assay performed in plasma was reproducible and always presented a slope that was highly parallel to but lower than the standard curves made with OPN diluted in buffer. Plasma may contain proteases that degrade OPN during the incubation of the ELISA plate. The addition of protease inhibitors to the samples or the use of a heat denaturation step overcame the loss of sensitivity observed in the presence of plasma. Osteopontin was resistant to heat treatment, given that approximately 98% of the OPN added to plasma just before heat denaturation 40 41 was recovered, as measured by ELISA; that stability was also validated by immunoblotting (data not shown). The presence of protease inhibitors did not further improve the sensitivity of the assay. Because treatment at 95°C for 3 min showed results similar to those achieved with the use of protease inhibitors, this low-cost heat treatment approach was used for the subsequent analysis. The plasma OPN concentration showed no variations throughout the lactation period except in the first week, when the amount of OPN was higher during the transition period (data not shown). However, no plasma difference according to the genetics of the cows was observed. The plasma OPN concentrations for the entire lactation period can be found in Additional File 3. 180 HlxH4 -♦ H2xH3 160 140 120 c o 2 c 0u1 c oo 100 80 Z Q_ ° 60 40 1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 Week of sampling Additional file 3 Osteopontin (OPN) concentration in plasma samples measured by ELISA. Plasma was sampled each week throughout 40 wk of lactation for haplotypes H2xH3 (n = 3) and H lxH 4 (n = 3), and OPN concentration was measured by ELISA. Data are shown as means ± SEM. 42 M essenger RNA expression o f m onocyte-derived m acrophage genes Expression levels for the key inflammatory and chemokine genes identified as proinflammatory (IL-6, IL-12A, TNF-a, CCL3 [MIP-a], and SPP1) or the anti­ inflammatory 1L-10 factors were determined. Two other key factors, NOD2 and NRAMP1, which are, respectively, the intracellular mycobacterial pattern (e.g., MDP) recognition receptor and the natural resistance-associated macrophage protein, were included because they are associated with a genetic susceptibility to mycobacterial infection (Table 1). S n * o l' XUM ACTB PPIA P-Actm Peptidvlprolyl isomexase A Ubiquitously expressed transcript Tyrosine 3-monooxygaiase tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein, zeta polypqttide or iw r n z CCL3 K -5 E.-12A Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 3; M IP-la Interleukin 6 {interferon, beta 2) Interiaikin 12, subunit Biological fsic b o a sad process Housekeeping genes Structural constitoast o f cytoskeLaion. nucleotide and ATP binding Protein folding, component o f post-transduction processing Structural comtituant o f cytoskeleton: P-tubulin, microtubule, and unfolded protein binding Signal transduction factor, binding topJwsphoserine-containing proteins Proirfflammatory cytoMnes Activation and racntitmaEt o f pdymorpboxnadaar leukocytes, acute phwt# factor aim irmrnsm as tnacticgslMiM ™flamfln*trwv pmtain-1 n. (M IP-la) Stimulation o f proliferation anHi on o f mveloid cells (T call lineage commitment): B-oell stimulatory factor-2 Stimulation and maitrtaramca c f Tui cdlular immune responses A A 2FX-? Interferon gamma SPP1 Osteopontin SLCJIjU Solute earner family 11A1; NRAMP1 Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2 XOD2 Stimulation o f cell-mediated immunity, critical for innate and adaptive immunity against viral and intracellular bacterial infections. macrophage-activating factor Fatly T -cell activating factor Others Membrane solute earner family 11 A l transporter (proton-coupled divalent metal icon transporters). Also knntvn at N'natural resistanceasjociated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP 1) Intracellular pathogen sensor through pattern recognition receptor tor the recognition o f molecules ccaflamng the specific structure called muramyl dipeptide •'MDP) found in certain bacteria :F.ntrezGene; National Center for Biotechnology Infom aticrt. Table 1. Gene symbols, names, and main biological functions of the genes 43 For normalization, the expression of four housekeeping genes was analyzed. The two most stably expressed genes were PP1A and UXT in all the experimental conditions except for the LPS challenge, in which ACTB and YWHAZ were less affected by the treatment (data not shown). Using the geometric means of the threshold value (CT) of the two most stable genes, fold change following stimulation was quantified. The level of gene expression in MDMs after stimulation with MAP, MDP, LPS, or DNA was analyzed according to the SPP1 genetics (i.e., H lxH 4 group vs. H2xH3 group). In macrophages from the H2xH3 cows, the OPN gene showed a sustained level of expression after stimulation with live MAP (P = 0.05) compared with the H lxH 4 macrophages (Figure 4A). Stimulation with MDP, an elementary constituent of bacterial peptidoglycan, also showed a tendency for a higher level of the OPN gene at 14 h (P = 0.06). The genetics of the macrophages also influenced the expression of the proinflammatory IL-6 gene, given that the IL-6 level in MAP-infected H2xH3 cows was more than twice the level in H lxH 4 macrophages (Figure 4B). However, it was interesting to observe a different pattern for NOD2, the major sensor of MDP. The level of NOD2 in H lxH 4 was generally higher than the level measured in the H2xH3 macrophages. Although stimulation with LPS induced much more variability for most of the genes (data not shown), NOD2 was significantly induced in LPS-treated macrophages from the H lxH 4 cows, and the expressed NOD2 level remained high in these cells at 24 h (P = 0.02). The impact of the H lxH 4 genetics on the NOD2 level was also observed with other agents, given that a tendency was observed following stimulation with DNA at 14 h (P = 0.07) and MDP at 1 h (P = 0.07) (Figure 4C). H2 x H3 a H I x H4 4ca > o 12 o &: 00 ADN MDP Time post-induction (h) MAP 44 B 900 400 800 700 <U 00 c 10 ■ H2 x H3 350 ■ H I x H4 300 600 250 500 200 75 400 300 200 100 u LPS 150 100 50 i i 14 14 24 24 1 i ADN 14 MDP 24 14 24 MAP Time post-induction (h) 40 35 ■ H2 x H3 30 © ■ HI x H4 25 20 22 o LL. CM Q o 15 10 Li 6 ADN MDP .. .1 14 24 MAP Tim e p o st-in d u ctio n (h) Figure 4 Expression of immune genes following MAP-infection or in response to bacterial wall stimuli in bovine monocyte-derived macrophages. The macrophages were treated with DNA, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), muramyl dipeptide (MDP), or Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Expression profiles of (A) the osteopontin gene (SPP1), (B) the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6, and (C) the intracellular sensor of pathogens (NOD2) are shown. The mean fold changes shown in the figure represent eight repeated experiments and were calculated with the 2~AACl method using the untreated control samples as the calibrator. The error bars represent the standard error of the mean (±SEM), and significant fold changes are denoted by asterisks (*P < 0.07, **P < 0.05). 45 Prom oter activities o f bovine SPP1 haplotypes Experiments were performed to determine whether the genotype of the promoter influences the activity of the OPN gene. The three most common haplotypes of the promoter in the Holstein bull population were compared using the firefly reporter in vitro assay. Transient transfections were performed on two bovine cell lines (BoMac macrophages and MAC-T epithelial cells; Figure 5 A and B, respectively) and using the human MCF7 mammary epithelial cell line (Figure 5C) broadly used in gene reporter assays. The allele H l-G CG generally had a stronger activity for all cell lines (P < 0.01). The H2-GTA promoter in the human MCF7 (Figure 5C) showed weaker activity than did the allele H3-ACG (P < 0.001). b a c mock Figure 5 Promoter activities of the haplotypes of the osteopontin gene. The Hl-GCG, H2GTA, and H3-ACG promoters were cloned in the luciferase reporter vector and were co­ transfected with pTK-RL (internal control vector reporting Renilla for transfection normalization) into (A) BoMac, (B) MAC-T, or (C) MCF7 cells. The relative promoter activities (Luc/Ren) of each variant are the means of six to nine independent transfections. Bars indicate standard error. Means without a common superscript letter differ from each other at the 5% level of significance. The section of the 5' untranslated region (5TJTR) of the promoter corresponding to the first intron and containing the third SNP (SPPIc.-430G>A) was measured. The presence of this SPPlc.-430G>A polymorphism did not influence the activity of the promoter, given that both alleles (intron-SPPlc.-430G and intron-SPPlc.-430A) generated similar Lu c/Ren signals (Figure 6). The upstream section of the promoter containing the SNPs SPPlc.- 46 1301G>A and SP P lc.-l2 5 lC > T was responsible for the different activity observed between the haplotypes, as seen with the truncated promoters (Hl-GC, H2-GT, and H3AC; Figure 6). 40,00 ■ MacT 35,00 □ BoMac ti 30,00 nj 25,00 > <D 2 20,00 ^ 15,00 0) > 4-> 10,00 23? £ 5,00 0,00 Hl-GC H2-GT H3-AC IL H-xxG H-xxA pGL4.10 Figure 6 Analysis of the functional impact of single-nucleotide polymorphisms present in the regulatory region. The Hl-GC, H2-GT, and H3-AC sequences (upstream region from the transcription initiation site), the two introns (H-xxG for SPPlc.-430G and H-xxA for SPPlc.-430A), and the empty pGL4-basic vectors were co-transfected with pTK-RL (internal control vector reporting the Renilla luciferase gene) into MAC-T cells (dark column) or BoMac cells (light column). The relative promoter activities (Luc/Ren) of each variant are the means of six independent transfections. Bars indicate standard error. Probability values of *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.005 were considered significant. Structural analysis and regulation o f the SPP1 prom oter The sequences of the three haplotypes were analyzed in silico to identify TF motifs that could potentially be affected by the genotype. The TF binding motifs co-located with the DNA polymorphisms are presented in Table 2. Several putative TF binding motifs were found in the vicinity of the respective SNP of the haplotype, namely SPPlc.-130JG>A, 47 SPPIc.-1251C>T, and SPPlc.-430G>A. Among those abolished by the presence of a single variation at the SPPlc.-1301G>A location, Ikaros was tested in co-transfection using the luciferase reporter assays. The presence of Ikaros increased the SPP1 promoter activity in bovine epithelial cells but not significantly in macrophages (Additional File 4). ■ H l-G C C O H 2 -G T A « H 3 -A C G •a£0 qi 80 f 1 - 1 s& A m o u n t o f Ikaros TF (ng) B 0 .5 ■ H l-G C G O H 2-G T A 0 .5 O H 3-A C G 0 .4 ^ > ■ p G L 4 .1 0 0 .4 33 O « 0 .3 I E o 0 .3 O > 02 O. 33 JO of O 02 0.1 0.1 0.0 0 10 25 50 10O A m o u n t o f Ik a ro s TF (n g ) Additional file 4 Analysis of the influence of the transcription factor Ikaros on the H lGCG, H2-GTA, and H3-ACG promoters on two different cell lines. The promoter vectors were co-transfected with pTK-RL (internal control vector harbouring Renilla luciferase gene) in the absence or presence of 10 to 100 ng of Ikaros expression vector in (a) MAC-T or (b) BoMac cells. The relative promoter activities of each variant are the means of four independent transfections. Bars indicate standard error. P-values of *P < 0.05 were considered significant. 48 No differential increase was observed among the haplotypes, as a greater technical variability was detected with increased amounts of Ikaros. For SPPIc.-1251C>T, among the three predictive TF binding motifs abolished when the reverse genotype of the sequence was submitted to the search engine, the SP1 factor was tested because the presence of polymorphisms in this GC-box motif was shown to influence DNA binding (Ordovas et al., 2008; Larsson et al., 2009) and the transcriptional activity of the human OPN gene (SPP1) promoter (Giacopelli et al., 2004). Co-transfection assays were carried out in the presence of the TF SP1. The co-transfection experiments with SP1 resulted in a relative increase of promoter activity from all the haplotypes (Figure 7). The presence of SP1 induced however a higher activation of the F12-GTA allele measured as a percentage of increase compared with the basal relative luciferase activity (i.e., in the absence of SP1). Although not always significant in BoMac because of high technical variability with this cell line (Figure 7A), the increase was significant in both epithelial cells (Figures 7B and C). 140 120 & £o 100 < »<o e0 at O' T3 at oc H1-GCG | H2-GTA | H3-ACG H l-G C G | H2-GTA | H3-ACG H l-G C G | H2-GTA | H3-A CG BOMAC MACT MCF7 Figure 7 Analysis of the functional impact of the transcriptional factor SP1. The Hl-GCG, H2-GTA, and H3-ACG promoter variants were co-transfected with pTK-RL (internal control expressing the Renilla luciferase gene) alone (light column, left axis) or with the SP1 expression vector (dark column, right axis) into BoMac, MAC-T, or MCF7 cells. The relative promoter activities (L.\\dReri) of each variant in the presence of SP1 are the means of nine independent transfections. The percent increase in the activity of the promoter variant in the presence of SP1 is calculated using the mean value of the respective variant measured in the absence of SP1. Bars indicate standard error. Means within a cell-line assay differ from each other at the 5% level of significance. 49 Discussion Different roles have been attributed to OPN, including cytokine/chemokine-like associated with monocyte attraction to the inflammation sites, stimulation of cell adhesion and migration, and promotion of cell survival. We previously reported that the OPN gene was found to be highly expressed in the early stage of bovine mammary-gland infection. A genetic study made on 567 bulls revealed that SNPs in this gene are associated with milkproduction traits and the level of somatic cells in milk (Alain et al., 2009). The somatic-cell score in milk is a parameter used to estimate the breeding value of udder health, basing genetic selection on this functional criteria to assess susceptibility to cow mastitis (Pritchard et al., 2013). Our study investigated the functional impact of the SNPs located in the promoter and confirmed that they affect the activity of the OPN gene promoter. Past genetic studies suggested that quantitative trait loci on bovine chromosome 6 are close to OPN location. The association was confirmed using microsatellite markers, specifically, a polymorphic variant in intron 4 (Leonard et al., 2005) and the Tn motif OPN3907 marker (Schnabel et al., 2005). No causative mutation was found, leading the authors to conclude that these markers were associated with other functional DNA polymorphisms. These SNPs were not found to be polymorphic in our population. Interestingly, however, by sequencing the OPN gene (SPP1) from 100 bulls selected for extreme breeding values, three SNPs were identified in the SPP1 promoter (Alain et al., 2009). Two are located in putative functional motifs within the first 100 bp upstream from the transcription initiation site. These SNPs— by opposition to OPN3907 SNP, which is located at -1238 nt upstream to the transcription start site—are more likely to be functional markers of the OPN gene. The third SNP, SPPlc.-430G>A, is located in the first intron, a sequence with demonstrated transcription activity (Figure 6). This intron, conserved in other species, also induced transcription of the human (Giacopelli et al., 2004) and porcine (Murani et al., 2009) genes. The intron’s transcriptional activity was attributed to the C/EBP beta-responsive motif, which is important because a polymorphism identified in this binding motif affected the expression of the porcine OPN gene in vivo (Murani et al., 2009). The bovine SPPlc.430G>A is +289 nt downstream from the C/EBP beta TF motif (Alain et al., 2009), which might explain why this SNP did not influence the activity of the bovine promoter 50 (Figure 6). The SNPs SPPJc.-J301G>A and SPPlc.-J251C>T are respectively located -125 and -7 5 nt upstream from the transcription start site (according to GenBank accession no. AY878328) within a genomic region containing essential elements for the transcriptional activity of the OPN gene (Giacopelli et al., 2003). This bovine region is highly similar to the human sequence and conserved among species [additional file 5]. In bovine cells, the H1_GCG allele of the OPN promoter was more active, and the H2_GTA allele was more responsive to the SP1 factor. The impact of a polymorphism in the SP1 binding motif present in the promoter of the OPN gene was also confirmed in another study. In particular, the human C>T polymorphism is colocated with SP P lc.-l251C > T in the SP1 binding motif [additional file 5] and affected SP1 binding (Giacopelli et al., 2004), suggesting that genetic variations in this regulatory region are functional markers. C A A A A CC AGA GOOOO AAQTO TGOOA OC AAQTOO OC TOOGC AOTGOC AXAA A- A C C T C A T O A C A C A - T C T C T C C G C C T C C C T Q T O T T G O T G Q A O O A T O T C T O Q A O 140___________ 150__________ t£ 0 ___________ 170___________ 180___________ 190_________ Z^OO___________ 210I T \ ’ H um an6 C him p1 Su*Sc* Cant* l* 220___________ ^ _________ JA A G TG G G C TG G G TA G TG G CA A A A T- G C C C C A T GA CA < i- TC T C T C C G C C * G T GT A GOT GGA GA OCA T CT GGA G CAAAACCAGAGGGGGAAGT GTGGC :AGOT GGG CTG G G C A O T OGCAG AAA- A C C T C A T GA CA < iA T CT CT C CG CC T C ( : 5' O TG TT G G T G G A G G A T G T C T G C A G iA GOT GGGCT GGGCA OT GOCAGAAA* A C C T C A T GACAl kATCT CT C CG CC T i GT G TT G O T G 0A G G A T OT CT GCAG C AAAA CCAGA GGGGO AAGTG TGOC GT GT T GOT G G C G G A TG T CT GO T O TCTCTCCGCCCAAAACCAGAGGGGGAAGTGTGGG*JC|C)A j AGTGGG TT GGGCAGT OGCACAA- - A C C T C A T GACA< iAG T GGG TT GGGCAGT G G C AA AAAAA CC T C A T GACA< TTTCTCCGCCTi GT GT T GOTGGAGA A T GT CT GGA G C AAAA CCAGA AGGGG AAGTG TGGC caaaaccagagggggaaotgtggg c: :• c: Additional file 5 Alignment of the promoters of different mammal species: Bos taurus, Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, Sus scrofa, and Canis lupus familiaris. The bovine polymorphisms SPPlc.-1301G>A and SPPlc.-1251C>T are highlighted (boxes) and are respectively positioned at 5,025 and 5,075 according to GenBank accession No. AY878328.1. The human C/T single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) highlighted in red was shown to abolish transcription factor SP1 binding (Giacopelli et al., 2004). The putative SP1 transcription binding motif [atctctccGCCCcct (+)] is in brackets. The sequences from the different species were aligned using Meg Align software (DNASTAR suite), and the region of the promoter encompassing the SNPs SPPlc.-1301G>A and SPPlc.-l251C> T is shown. The sequences were aligned using MegAlign software (DNASTAR suite) according to their reference number: Com plem ent of nt 5,000-5,100 of GenBank accession No. AY878328.1 .C om plem ent of nt 2,133-2,235 of GenBank accession No. D 14813.1 Com plem ent of nt 90,230,358-90,230,457 of GenBank accession No. NC 006471.3.Com plem ent of nt 2,480-2,579 of GenBank accession No. M 84121.Com plem ent of nt 11,354,019-11,354,121 of GenBank accession No. NC 006614.3. The importance of these functional markers was also validated by in vivo studies as the amount of OPN secreted into milk was associated with cow OPN genetics (S P P l). The cows carrying haplotype H lxH 4 produced higher milk yields (P < 0.04; Figure 1), to some 51 extent, and secreted more OPN in late lactation (Figure 3c). Although overall milk yield during 40 wk of lactation did not differ between the groups (P = 0.776), a difference was occasionally measured for H lxH 4 cows. These H lxH 4 cows carry the GCG promoter, but the alleles HI and H4 have, respectively, the genotypes SPPlc.*40A and SPPlc.*40C. Nevertheless, these H lxH 4 cows secreted more OPN during late lactation than homozygous HI or H2xH3 cows. As suggested in a previous study (Alain et al., 2009), SPPlc.*40A>C may influence binding factors like NF-AT, whose binding motif is colocalized with this SNP. While NF-AT promotes cell proliferation and the expression of inflammatory cytokines, it also plays varied roles outside of the immune system (Nilsson et al., 2008), including regulation of OPN expression (Nilsson-Berglund et al., 2010). Alternatively, a more general mechanism such as microRNA may affect transcript stability, yet SP P lc.*40C cannot solely explain the phenotypic observations because this SNP is also found in the H2 allele. Accordingly, neither the promoter activity nor the presence of SPPlc.*40C polymorphism in the 3’UTR of the H4 allele can account for the phenotypic observations in the H lxH 4 cows. Therefore, studying the TF interactions in the biological tissue is definitively a more accurate way to study the influence of the genetics on gene expression and on the level of OPN secreted into milk. A study using a larger population or including only homozygous cows would be easier to interpret. That notwithstanding, the identification of homozygous cows is challenging, because some haplotypes are barely represented in the population. For example, only 4 cows out of 100 had this H4 allele, which can be explained by the low prevalence (5%) of this allele in the Holstein population (Alain et al., 2009). The next question addressed was therefore whether the different haplotypes of the SPP1 gene could influence immune response. As the amount of OPN secreted into milk was only higher for the H lxH 4 cows (Figure 3c), this group’s immune response was compared to that of the H2xH3 cows, which had genetics associated with an EBV for SCS (refer to Table 6 from a previous publication (Alain et al., 2009)). Dairy cows with H2xH3 genetics were then associated with poorer udder health. Our study showed that H lx H4 cows associated with a reduced level of somatic cells in milk (e.g. lower EBV for the SCS) were associated with a higher OPN level in milk. This suggests an inverse correlation between the OPN milk level during late lactation and the EBV for SCS, with a lower SCS and an 52 elevated OPN level being favorable. Increased OPN levels in milk during late lactation may be beneficial, because OPN can opsonize bacteria and enhance phagocytosis (Schack et al., 2009). The positive impact of the SPPI genetics on the immune system was also observed. Our study did not restrict analysis of the immune response to the stimulating agent in mammary-gland infection. Osteopontin is also involved in other pathogen responses, including facilitating the clearance of intracellular pathogens. Knockout mice (OPN -/-) are more susceptible to intracellular pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes (Ashkar et al., 2000). In the genome, the site of Rickettsia resistance colocalizes with the OPN gene (Patarca et al., 1993). The genetic susceptibility of dairy cows to intracellular pathogens has also been reported. Interestingly, mutations in the NOD2 gene were reported to be associated with genetic susceptibility to Johne’s disease (Pinedo et al., 2009). NOD2 is an intracellular pathogen sensor, in particular, MAP, which is the causative agent of Johne’s disease in cattle. In our study, we observed that NOD2 from the H lxH 4 macrophages was more inducible after stimulation with almost all agonists, although significant variations were observed in this assay. Interestingly, the study of the IL-6 gene, a proinflammatory factor associated with chronic enteric inflammation (Mudter and Neurath, 2007) and granuloma formation, revealed that cow SPPI genetics affect the expression level of IL-6 in MAP-infected macrophages. The ability to mount and sustain a mycobacterial-induced granulomatous response is severely compromised by IL-6 deficiency (Abbott et al., 2011). It was thus interesting to observe that SPPI genetics influenced both SPPI and IL-6 expression. The IL-6 gene was approximately 10 times more induced in the H2xH3 than in the H lxH 4 macrophages infected with MAP (Figure 4b), which was also associated with a sustained level of the OPN gene (Figure 4a). These findings suggest a role for SPPI genetics in controlling this proinflammatory IL-6 cytokine response and, potentially, in regulating granuloma development. The pattern of MDP stimulation was, however, different from MAP. The IL-6 expression was promptly induced by MDP at 1 h and was not sustained later on. Similar results were observed with other genes, such as TNF-a and IL-10 (data not shown). These observations are intriguing, given that MDP is an agent used to mimic the mycobacterial membrane. The 53 expected pattern of immune response would be therefore similar if we assumed that MDP— a gram-positive peptidoglycan— were recognized by NOD2 (Pauleau and Murray, 2003). This is, however, a controversial assumption, because MDP shares the same signaling pathways required for the LPS-induced (gram-negative) production of proinflammatory cytokines (Windheim et al., 2007). The different expression profiles in response to MAP or MDP stimulation may, in turn, be attributed to the fact that MDP does not become internalized, whereas live MAP does. MDP transfection was attempted but unsuccessfully (Pauleau and Murray, 2003). The delivery of NOD2 agonists within macrophages without any concomitant stimulation of a Toll-like receptor remains a complex technical challenge, although the pattern was more defined for some agonists. For instance, the endotoxin-free DNA agent— a Toll-like receptor 9 agonist— stimulated NOD2, whereas the induction of IL-6 was clearly not sustained. Interestingly, NOD2 was found to be affected by the cow’s genetics, being more abundant in the H lxH 4 macrophages despite the great variability measured for this gene. Notwithstanding the limited scope of our understanding of the specific response of macrophages to NOD2 or Toll-like receptor agonists, analysis of the immune response of macrophages derived from different SPPI genetics makes it possible to identify inflammatory genes affected by OPN variants. Macrophages are at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity, and it is now clear that they direct different classes of immune responses. Osteopontin, a Thi cytokine, is upregulated in relation to the severity of chronic disease (Ashkar et al., 2000), considered as a biomarker of Crohn’s disease (Neuman, 2012), and associated with genetic susceptibility to this disease (Glas et al., 2011). In our study, both IL-6 and SPPI were found differentially expressed following MAP infection, which is the causative agent of Johne’s disease (or bovine paratuberculosis). Similarities between Johne’s and Crohn’s diseases have been reported. These findings on the genetic impact of the OPN gene on the immune response to MAP infection provide insight into the unique interactions between host macrophages and mycobacteria. The strategy of identifying host genes altered by infection and whose expression is linked to animal genetics can provide valuable information for targeting improved disease resistance in genetic selection. 54 Conclusions The plasma OPN concentration was not influenced by the cow genetics for the OPN gene (SPPI) and, with the exception of the peripartum period, levels were very similar throughout lactation. The OPN in milk, in turn, increased during later lactation and the level was associated with the SPPI genotype, since the H lxH 4 cows secreted higher OPN amounts into milk. Interestingly, the promoter from both H 1 (GCG) and H4 (GCG), which corresponds to the HI-GCG haplotype, had the highest activity in functional studies. Under the condition of infection with the causative agent of Johne’s disease, however, the expression level of SPPI in the H2xH3 macrophages was sustained, while the proinflammatory IL-6 increased, suggesting a putative influence of both genes on granuloma development. The importance of gaining insight into the unique interactions between host macrophages and mycobacteria was shown. The strategy of identifying host genes that are altered by infection and whose expression is linked to animal genetics can provide valuable information for targeting improved disease resistance in genetic selection. Methods Animals and experimental procedures For this study, 15 multiparous cows were selected from the local herd based on their SPPI genetics, given haplotype H 1-H4 according to a previous study (Alain et al., 2009). The cows were placed in groups of five based on their genotype (HlxH4, H2xH3, or H lx H l), which is also associated with the estimated breeding value (EBV), assessed as high (HlxH4), low (H2xH3), or average (H lx H l) for the somatic cell score (SCC) trait. In the H2xH3 group, one cow died during wk 30 of the study, and one cow was discarded because its milk contained millions of somatic cells per milliliter, in association with a chronic infection. Consequently, results from four H2xH3 cows were analyzed until wk 30, whereas data from that period until the end of the lactation period were available for three cows in that group. The partly mixed feed ration contained hay, corn, grass silage, and minerals, supplemented with concentrates to meet the energy requirements of the cows based on milk production of 38 kg/d for the first 180 lactation days and then 28 kg/d until the dry period. The diet was offered once daily in sufficient amounts for ad libitum intake. Water was freely available at 55 all times. After parturition, the cows were milked twice a day according to the regular management of the herd. During each milking, milk yield was recorded with electronic milk meters (MU480; DeLaval Inc., Kansas City, MO, USA) and input electronically (DelPro software, version 3.5; DeLaval International AB, Tumba, Sweden). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to compare the three groups. Blood and milk (daily composite samples from the four quarters) were collected each week throughout the lactation period. The cows were housed at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre (Sherbrooke, QC, Canada), and the animals were used in accordance with Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines. Sample collection and treatment Osteopontin concentrations were measured by ELISA. The milk was centrifuged at 3,500 x g and 4°C for 15 min, after which the fat fraction was discarded, and the milk was then further centrifuged at 21,460 x g and 4°C for 60 min. Aliquots of the supernatant were kept at -80°C until analysis. Blood was collected in 10-mL evacuated blood collection tubes containing EDTA. The samples were then centrifuged at 1,800 x g and 4°C for 15 min. The plasma was aliquoted and stored at -80°C. Before analysis, the samples were thawed on ice. The plasma samples were either used directly in ELISA assays with or without protease inhibitors or heated at 95°C for 3 min to denature the proteins and proteases prior to analysis. Following denaturation, the clots were broken up with the tip of a pipette and then centrifuged at 21,460 x g and 4°C for 1 h. The supernatants were analyzed by ELISA. SDS-PAGE and immunodetection Acrylamide gels (Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd., Mississauga, ON, Canada) were used to perform SDS-PAGE according to the Laemmli method (Laemmli, 1970) under reducing conditions. The samples were run along with the molecular weight marker Precision Plus Protein All Blue Standard (Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd.). The proteins were transferred onto Immun-Blot PVDF membranes (Bio-Rad Laboratories Ltd.). The membranes were blocked overnight with Tris-buffered saline (150 mM NaCl, 10 mM Tris-HCl [pH 7.4]) containing 0.1% (vol/vol) Tween 20 (TBST) and 3% (wt/vol) bovine serum albumin (BSA) blocking 56 reagent (BioShop Canada Inc., Burlington, ON, Canada). The membranes were then incubated for 1 h at room temperature in TBST-BSA buffer containing the primary antibody. The membranes were washed three times for 5 min in TBST and incubated in blocking buffer with the secondary antibody at room temperature for 1 h, after which they were washed five times for 5 min before revelation. The primary antibodies, MAB193P (Maine Biotechnology Services, Inc., Portland, ME, USA) and custom-made bOPN-117 (Bissonnette et al., 2012), were diluted 1:1,000 and 1:500, respectively. The monoclonal antibody MAB193P recognizes one epitope located within the N-terminal part of the OPN protein, and epitopes corresponding to the polyclonal antibody bOPN-117 are located in the carboxyl extremity of the protein (Bissonnette et al., 2012). These primary antibodies were detected by, respectively, the ECL anti-mouse (NA931V) and the anti-rabbit (NA934V) IgG horseradish peroxidase-linked whole antibodies (GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences Inc., Baie d ’Urfe, QC, Canada), diluted 1:10,000 in blocking solution. The proteins were revealed using ECL Plus Western Blotting Detection Reagent (GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences Inc.). Images were analyzed using an Alpha Innotech FluorChem SP imaging system (Cell BioSciences, Toronto, ON, Canada). Sandwich ELISA analysis The milk and plasma samples were analyzed by ELISA using 96-well ELISA plates (Greiner Bio-One North America, Inc., Monroe, NC, USA) coated with commercial monoclonal antibody MAB193P (anti-human OPN) diluted 1:1,000 in a coating buffer (0.05 M Na2C 0 3 buffer [pH 9.2]), sealed, and incubated overnight at 4°C. The plates were washed twice with the washing buffer (PBS [pH 7.4] containing 0.05% Tween 20). Blocking solution (PBS [pH 7.4] containing 1% fish skin gelatin) was added, and the plates were incubated at 37°C for 90 min. After this incubation, the wells were washed three times. Following the final wash, 100 pL of either the trial or standard curve sample was loaded. Duplicates of the standard curve were run for every plate and made with the commercial OPN (bOPN, cat. No. 109-OP-050/C; R&D Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) appropriately diluted in the blocking solution, which was also used for blanks. Next, the plates were incubated at 37°C for 90 min and then washed three times. Subsequently, the polyclonal antibody bOPN-121 (Bissonnette et al., 2012) diluted 1:500 in blocking 57 buffer was added and plate-incubated at room temperature for 2 h. Following the washing step, a solution containing the horseradish peroxidase-coupled antibody (anti-rabbit IgG, NA934V; GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences Inc.) diluted 1:10,000 in blocking buffer was added, and incubation was carried out at room temperature for 90 min. Following the final wash, the substrate, TMB Microwell Peroxidase Substrate (KPL, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, USA), was incubated for 10 min, and an equivalent volume of stopping solution (2.0 M H2SO4) was added. The plates were read at 450 nm using a SpectraMax Plus384 microplate reader (Molecular Devices, LLC, Downingtown, PA, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the MIXED procedure of the SAS software package (version 9.2; SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The trapezoidal method for the area under the curve was used to determine the significance of the differences. M onocyte isolation, culture o f bovine m onocyte-derived macrophages, an d stim ulation For peripheral immune cell isolation, 350 mL whole blood was collected per cow in a blood collection bag containing acid citrate dextrose buffer (cat. No. 108962; CDMV, StHyacinthe, QC, Canada). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from the buffy coat fractions of the peripheral blood and further purified by density gradient centrifugation with Ficoll-Paque Plus medium (VWR International LLC, Ville Mont-Royal, QC, Canada) as described previously (Alain et al., 2009). Isolated PBMC were resuspended in RPMI 1640 supplemented with IX L-glutamine, sodium bicarbonate, and HEPES (Wisent Inc., St-Bruno, QC, Canada). The monocytes were isolated by adherence as described previously (Zhou et al., 2012) with minor modifications. Cells were seeded at 5 x 106 in a 6-well flat-bottom plate containing complete medium consisting of RPMI 1640 (Wisent Inc.) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated bovine heterologous serum (pooled from all cows) and IX antibiotics and antifungals (Wisent Inc.) at 39°C with 5% CO 2 in a humidified atmosphere. The cells were incubated for 2 h to allow the monocytes to attach. Then, the adherent cells were washed twice using pre-warmed RPMI 1640. Following 18 h of incubation (d 1), the cells were washed twice to remove any non-tightly adhered cells, and the medium was replaced with 2 mL fresh antibiotic-containing medium with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS; Wisent Inc.). The identity and purity of the monocytes was confirmed to be greater than 98% by flow cytometry (data not shown) 58 using an anti-CD 14 Pacific Blue-labeled antibody as described previously (Taraktsoglou et al., 2011). The cells were then incubated with RPMI 1640 containing 10% FBS at 39°C in 5% CO2 for 8 to 10 d to reach 80%-to-90% confluent monolayers. The monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) displayed the characteristic macrophage morphology, which was confirmed by flow cytometry using the Monoclonal Mouse Anti-Human CD68 antibody (Cedarlane, Burlington, ON, Canada). More than 98% of the MDM cells were CD68positive (data not shown). The MDM were used for the in vitro challenge experiments. Preliminary assays using different multiplicities of infection for Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP, field strain 39382, 10:1 or 100:1), muramyl dipeptide (MDP, 10 or 100 pg/mL medium; Cedarlane), LPS (0.1 or 1 pg/mL; Cedarlane), or DNA (2 or 10 pg/mL, endotoxin-free DNA from Escherichia coli K12; Cedarlane) were carried out. Selection of the dose was initially based on previously described stimulations of bovine or human macrophages with LPS (Adler et al., 1995; Taraktsoglou et al., 2011), DNA (Trevani et al., 2003; Talati et al., 2008), MDP (Yang et al., 2007; Hedl and Abraham, 2011), and MAP (Park et al., 2011). The following conditions were selected as the minimal dose to induce the expression of IL-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a): MAP, multiplicity of infection of 10:1; MDP, 10 pg/mL; LPS, 100 ng/mL; and DNA, 2 pg/mL. Prior to MAP infection, the cells were incubated in antibiotic-free medium for 24 h. Because no fluctuation was observed for the no-treatment controls, only two controls, the Time 0 and 24-h time points, were kept. The samples were harvested 1, 6, 14, or 24 h post-treatment. The medium was discarded, and the cells were harvested using 1 mL Buffer RLT (QIAGEN Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada) added to each well. Biological duplicates were performed for each cow, including each stimulating agent and each time point. RNA extraction and real-time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR The RNA was extracted using the RNeasy kit (QIAGEN Inc.) and reverse-transcribed for quantitative reverse-transcription transcriptase (Life Technologies PCR (qRT-PCR) using Superscript II reverse Inc., Burlington ON, Canada) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. The cDNA was then diluted in molecular-grade H 2 O and stored in multiple aliquots at -20°C for subsequent use. Primers were designed for each gene with the Primer Express 3 software package (Life Technologies Inc.) using the RefSeq sequence 59 downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Primer concentrations ranging from 50 to 900 nM were tested during optimization reactions. Information about the primer sequence and the amplification efficiency of the PCR for all tested genes are provided in Additional File 1. The qRT-PCR assays were carried out with Fast SYBR Green PCR Master Mix in a StepOnePlus real-time PCR system (Life Technologies Inc.) after denaturation at 95°C for 20 s and amplification during 40 cycles of denaturation at 95°C for 3 s followed by an annealing/elongation period at 60°C for 30 s. The expression of four putative reference genes (ACTB, PPIA, UXT, and YWHAZ) was determined in all samples. The geometrical average of the most stable genes was used as an internal control for longitudinal gene expression profiling as described previously (Bionaz and Loor, 2007). The qRT-PCR results were analyzed according to the comparative CT method, given by the arithmetic formula 2“AACt (Livak and Schmittgen, 2001), and subjected to ANOVA using the GLM procedure of SAS (version 9.2; SAS Institute Inc.). Gene name ACTB Accession num ber NM_173979 Hybridization F 1051 R 1173 NM_174814 YWHAZ F 530 R660 PPLi NM_178320 F 317 R417 NMJXH037471 F 339 UXT R443 IL6 NM_173923 F 454 R 597 118 NM_173925 F 239 R354 IL12A NM_174355 F 157 R291 IL18 NM_174091 F 342 R491 NM_174187 SPPI F 507 R652 ecu NM_174511 F 129 R 232 JFXG NM_174086 F 447 R 578 XOD2 NM_001002889 F 2511 R2641 SLC11A1 NM_174652 F 1342 R 1449 Exon-exon junctions ire underlined Other primers Efficiency (•/.) Prim ers (nM) Size (bp) 92.43 300300 123 9693 300,300 131 89 02 300300 101 95.71 300300 105 89.35 300 300 144 92 69 300300 116 10345 900300 135 gtctttgaggatatgcctgattctg gttctcacaggagagagtagacattttc 91.00 300 300 150 aaatgatggccgaggtgatagt tcttaggtgcgtcatgcatctc 91 87 300300 146 10093 300 300 104 104 62 300 300 132 104.57 300 300 131 96 77 900 50 108 Prim er sequences (5'-3') TGGCACCCAGCACAATGA CCTGCTTGCTGATCCACATCT AATGCAACCAACACATCCTATCAG gttcagcaatggcttcatcaaat ATGCTGGCCCCAACACAA CCCTCTTTCACCTTGCCAAA TGGC AG AAGCTCTC AAGTTC ATT CATGTGGATATGGGCCTTGAT gaaaatgtcagggatttgaggaa TGCGTTCTTTACCCACTCGTTT GAGAGTGGGCCACACTGTGAA ttcacaaatacctgcacaaccttct acgctacagaaggccagacaa actctcattcgtggctaattcca TCTTCTCGGCACCATTTGG tggtctcaaaatagtcagctacgatt gattcaaattccggtggatga cggcctcgaaagagattctg gcgtctgcaaagctctttacttg gccatcggtcaacttgttgtt cctcaacgacctgctcaatgt ccattggcaaactcctgcat are located on distinct exons Additional file 1 Information on primer sequences and parameters for quantitative PCR analysis. Reference gene target, primer design, concentration, and experimental information on amplification efficiency for all the primer pairs used in quantitative PCR. 60 DNA constructs In a Holstein population (n = 587) analyzed in a previous study (Alain et al., 2009), three SNPs (SPPlc.-1301 G>A, SPPlc.-1251C>T, and SPPlc.-430G>A) were identified in the promoter of the OPN gene (SPPI). The three alleles of the SPPI promoter, the haplotypes HI-GCG, H2-GTA, and H3-ACG, were amplified from a homozygous bull using forward (5'-AGCTGCTGCACACTTGAAACTC-3') ATGATTTTTCCTGCAAAATATTTTGTAAG-3') and primers. reverse The (5'- 1,739-bp regulating sequence (-l,7 4 4 /-5 from the start codon; GenBank accession No. AY878328) from each allele was cloned into the Kpn I and Bgl II restriction sites of the pGL4.10 vector (Promega BioSciences, Inc., Madison, WI, USA), which is used as a luciferase reporter to monitor the promoter activity of the OPN gene. The fragments of the first intron (both alleles of the SPPlc.-430G/A) that contains the third SNP of the haplotype were also cloned in the pGL4.10 vector, giving the intron-SPPlc.-430G and the intron-SPPlc.-430A constructs. The transcription factor (TF) SP1 (-8/+2,459) was amplified from bovine mammary gland cDNA using 5'-TGCT ACCATGAGCGACC A AG ATC AC-3' and 5'- CCTGATCTCAGAAGCCATTGCCA-3' primers (in accordance with GenBank accession No. NM_001078027), and the restriction HindlH-XhoI fragment was subcloned into pCDNA3.1(+) (Life Technologies Inc.) under the cytomegalovirus promoter. The human TF SP3, which is also under the cytomegalovirus promoter, was a gift from Dr. Guntram Suske (Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research, Marburg, Germany). The TF Ikaros (plasmid pDNR-hlKZNFl) was purchased from DF/HCC DNA Resource Core (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA) and subcloned in pCDNA3.1(+). All constructs were analyzed for insert size by 1.2% agarose gel electrophoresis and sequenced. The genotype of each clone was confirmed by sequencing both directions using the ABI PRISM BigDye Terminator v3.1 Cycle Sequencing Kit in the ABI PRISM 3100-Avant Genetic Analyzer (Life Technologies Inc.) according to the company’s recommendations. All DNA constructs were purified using the E.Z.N.A. Endo-Free Plasmid Mini Kit II (Omega Bio-Tek, Inc., Norcross, GA, USA) from three independent preparations. The DNA constructs were quantified using an ND-1000 spectrophotometer (NanoDrop Technologies Inc., Wilmington, DE, USA) and stored at -20°C. 61 Cell culture and transient transfection assays The human (MCF7) and bovine (MAC-T) mammary epithelial cell lines were maintained in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with F12 (DMEM/F12; Wisent Inc.), and the bovine macrophage cell line (BoMac) was cultured in RPMI 1640 (Wisent Inc.). Cells were cultured in the presence of 10% FBS and IX antibioticantimycotic solution at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO 2 . Cells were seeded at 5 x 105 cells per well in a 24-well plate and transfected at an estimated 50% to 60% confluence. MAC-T is a transformed bovine mammary epithelial cell line (Huynh et al., 1991), BoMac is an immortalized bovine macrophage cell line (Stabel and Stabel, 1995), and MCF7 was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. Transfections of the epithelial cells were performed using PromoFectin-Macrophage (PromoCell, Heidelberg, Germany). For transfection of macrophages (BoMac), the agent PromoFectin (PromoCell) was used according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Conditions maximizing transfection efficiency were established at transfection agent/DNA ratios (vol/pg DNA) of 2:1 for both epithelial cell lines and 3:1 for BoMac. The optimal co-transfection condition for luciferase (pGL4.10 constructs) and Renilla (pGL4.74/hRluc/TK; Promega BioSciences) was determined to be a 50:1 Luc /Ren ratio. Some optimization assays are shown in Additional File 2. Cell lysates were prepared with the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega BioSciences), and both luciferase and Renilla activities were determined with a luminometer (Turner BioSystems Luminometer Model TD-20/20; Promega BioSciences) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The relative promoter activity of each transfection assay was determined using the luciferase value less the average background activity of the empty pGL4-basic construct divided by Renilla. The effect of a TF on the promoter activity was calculated as a percentage of increase in the normalized luciferase data (fireflyIRenilla) compared with the value measured in the absence of SP1. Each condition was transfected six to nine times and included three independent plasmid preparations. Data were submitted to two separate one-way ANOVAs with heterogeneous variances. Multiple comparisons were carried out with a Tukey correction. Data are representative of three independent experiments. All analyses were performed using SAS (version 9.2; SAS Institute Inc.). 62 Abreviations ANOVA, one-way analysis of variance; EBV, estimated breeding value; ELISA, enzymelinked immuno sorbent assay; IL-, interleukin; EFN-y, interferon-gamma; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; MDM, monocyte-derived macrophage; MDP, muramyl dipeptide; MAP, Mycobacterium avium subp. paratuberculosis; OPN, osteopontin; SCS, somatic cell score; SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism; SPPI, secreted phosphoprotein 1; TF, transcription factor; TNF-a, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; UTR, untranslated region. Competing interests The authors have declared that they have no competing interests. Authors' contributions PLD participated in the design and carried out the optimizations and osteopontin quantifications. KA identified the haplotypes and sequenced the constructs. CT participated in the design and carried out the optimizations of the transfection and the real-time PCR assays. NB conceived of the study, participated in its coordination and carried out the in silico analysis. PLD and NB wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgments The authors thank Karoline Lauzon for providing technical assistance with transfection and real-time PCR assays and thank Caroline Roy and Clemence LeCoroller for performing ELISA. This research was supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (grant no. RBPI-1276). 63 References Abbott, A. N., K. J. Welsh, S. A. Hwang, P. Ploszaj, T. Choudhury, S. Boyd, M. R. Blackburn, R. L. Hunter, Jr., and J. K. Actor. 2011. 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AVANT-PROPOS DU DEUXIEME ARTICLE Impaired cell proliferation and increased circulating IFN-y, IL-17 and osteopontin in bovine paratuberculosis Auteurs de I’article: Pier-Luc Dudemaine, Gilles Fecteau, Martin Lessard, Olivia Labrecque, Jean-Philippe Roy et Nathalie Bissonnette Statut de Particle : Soumis la revue Journal of Dairy Science le 23 mai 2013 et le numero de soumission est JD S-13-7059 Avant-propos : L ’article a ete redige par M. Pier-Luc Dudemaine, corrige et ameliore par Mrae Nathalie Bissonnette et revise par M. Martin Lessard et Jean-Philippe Roy. Au niveau du travail experimental, le contenu integral a ete effectue par Pier-Luc, soit l’essai de lymphoproliferation, le dosage des cytokines plasmatiques, Fisolement et 1’infection des macrophages in vitro, ainsi que la mise au point et l’analyse du PCR quantitatif. f n i Mvra-snr os G3 SHERBROOKE AUTOfUSATlOM DlNTiGRATION DUN ARTICLE tO U T EN COLLABORATION A UN MtMOUtt OU UNB THiSC J* (ou nous), soussign4e<s), »ussfgn«s), co-aUeure<s), a>-aut»ur(s)d»rtotfcie inttuN : impaired cell proltfcratioo and increased arctriatinq IFN-y. IL-17 and osteopontin in bovine paratubercuiosts____________________ reoomals{recormaissoro} qua led* titJde sera Indus aomme partie constftuanta du mAnelr* j*Q der<Hu<flant(e) (nom): detath&se □ Pier-Luc Dudemaine irscrtt<e) au programme de Biochimle de IDnimsifcfc de Sherbrooke de la Facultd de MEdeclne el sciences de la sanid Enfmde qool, J'ai (nousavona) dpt* cel e n p a g a v^ t en un,nomty%suflteanttf exetnplaites*____________ 5i9nmjm f ° * * : 2013-07-09^ ^ >*»" Nathalie Bissonrfette Coordonodes 2000 rue du College I ____ Sherbrooke. QC. Canada J1M OCi Signature _L /■ 1 Gjies Nom f*om _____ Coonfonndfls r * - 'W f .c .Cr ^ .4 Siqn<rture... " ...,C _ _ ' p* » : Martin Lessard_______________________________ ;_________ Cbordonn^ta 2000 me du College_________________________________________ Sherbrooke. QC. Canada JIM 0C8___________________________ Signature Hem Coordonnto * Data: .>» ' s* ?T7 Ohvia Laarec^ufc___________________________________________ c.P. 3500. St-H yacinthe, Qc J2X 7X9_________________________________ Un exempiafre pour f&udUnte, r&udfant, un exempiafre pour cheque personne slgnatalre et un exempiafre pour le Service des bibfloth^ques ( i rernettre avec le mEmdre ou la these au moment du d4pft final). iM v n am o * SHERBROOKE AUTOIUSATZOM O U n taU T lO M DUN AJmCUi ta U T (ft COtLASOftATXON AUNM#MOmeO(IUN«THtS« % (on nousX soumgmfactx s o u o l*i*i), ao-auteure(s), cchm*m*{*) d* IM d i M ftuN : tm paired call prtrtiteraticn and tncreased circulating IFN-y. IL-17 and osteopontin in bovine paratuberculosis rammafe (reoonnatsmnft) quo tod* vttde Mra indue axnme partto aontffcuante du mfrnolre ® do I'&ufenfCe) (nan): dctath^M □ Pier-Luc Dudemaine irecr*(«)Mi programmed* Biochimio________________________________________________________ de la Facutti de Mededna et sciences de la a a n t» _____________ dei\J»iM»sitideSherteooloB En foide quoir fm (nouaarore) dgrtocftengagemere^uejwmfre suftlurt <r eHeroplalraB*__________t 'v ■»»= ^ h t j l 3 M an-P hiiippe Roy ^ „ C g j & L & *. . a L --------------- i p - s .Z l - YCO? Signature_________________________________________ Date: __________________ Nom_________________________ Goordonnfcs Signature ________________________________Gate Nam__________________________________________ Coordonndes Signature Dace: Horn Coordonndes " Un exempteire pour I'&udUmte, r& udlant 0,1 exeroptaire pour cheque persormt signature e t un exempialre pour to Service dee Wbioth^ques ( i rernettre avec le mdmolre ou la th&se au moment du d£pdt final). RESUME DU DEUXIEME ARTICLE L’infection par Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) engendre un desordre immunitaire important chez les bovins infectes. Ce derangement amorce 1’implantation d ’une maladie intestinale inflammatoire chronique qui resulte en une enterite granulomateuse. Le type de reponse immunitaire en place chez les hotes infectes ne fait pas l’unanimite dans la communaute scientifique. Pourtant, l’etablissement de strategies pour le developpement d ’outils diagnostiques ou de traitements necessite une comprehension tres precise des mecanismes de defense en reponse a 1’invasion par la bacterie. La theorie la plus repandue consiste en une reponse lymphocytaire de type Thi en debut d ’infection pour contrer le pathogene intracellulaire, puis au cours de l’avancement de la maladie, cette reponse ferait place au type Th2 , d ’ou 1’apparition plus tardive d’anticorps diriges contre la bacterie. Depuis quelques annees, plusieurs maladies inflammatoires chroniques humaines ont ete reliees a une augmentation de la reponse lymphocytaire de type Thi7 qui amene une pro­ inflammation locale. Ainsi, 1’hypothese que la paratuberculose evolue d ’une maniere similaire a ces maladies chroniques a ete emise et certains indices laissent croire que les lymphocytes Thn pourraient effectivement etre en cause dans le deploiement d ’une reponse inflammatoire chronique. Etant donne que la culture fecale de la bacterie donne generalement un diagnostic plus precoce de la maladie relativement a l’ELISA serologique, il a ete possible d ’etablir deux groupes de vaches infectees. De ce fait, les vaches identifiees positives seulement en culture fecale sont associees a un stade d’evolution plus precoce de la maladie comparees a celles identifiees a la fois positives en culture fecale et en ELISA. Pour mieux comprendre les bouleversements a ces differents stades de la maladie progresse, une analyse de la capacite serologique a soutenir une proliferation cellulaire en reponse a un stimulus bacterien a ete effectuee. Des cellules mononucleees ont ete isolees et mises en culture a partir du sang peripherique de trois vaches donneuses (saines) en presence de serum de vaches non-infectees ou infectees par MAP. Elies ont ensuite ete stimulees avec de la concanavaline A, qui est une glycoproteine de la famille des lectines. Les resultats obtenus lors de cet essai ont permis de conclure que les cellules immunitaires ont une capacite de proliferation reduite de 15% lorsqu’elles sont mises en culture en 72 presence de serum provenant des vaches atteintes de paratuberculose en comparaison au serum de vaches saines. Quant a lui, le stade d ’infection n’apporte pas de difference au niveau de capacite du serum a soutenir la proliferation cellulaire, il s’agit done probablement d’un effet engendre par la presence de la bacterie chez 1’animal. Les variations observees au niveau de la proliferation ont permis d ’emettre l’hypothese qu’il y avait des differences entre les vaches a statut negatif et celles a statut positif au niveau serologique. Dans cette optique, le dosage de cytokines plasmatiques a ete effectue pour determiner s’il y avait des differences au niveau du type de reponse lymphocytaire en place au niveau systemique qui pourrait expliquer la difference de proliferation cellulaire. Les cytokines plasmatiques suivantes ont ainsi ete mesurees : l’IL-4, IL-10, IL-17, IFN-y et 1’OPN. L’interleukine 4 et 10 n ’ont demontre aucune difference avec les vaches negatives. La reponse de type Th2 representee par la secretion d ’IL-4 n’est done pas augmentee chez les vaches atteintes. De plus, IL-10 n’offrant aucune difference entre les groupes, cette cytokine anti-inflammatoire ne peut expliquer la difference de proliferation mesuree. Pour leur part, l’IFN-y et l’osteopontine ont donne des patrons similaires, puisque leur concentration est moins elevee chez les vaches negatives que chez les deux groupes de vaches positives et dans les deux cas, les vaches dans un stade plus avance de la maladie ont une concentration legerement plus grande que les vaches dans un stade d ’infection plus precoce. Ces deux cytokines aident a confirmer une reponse pro-inflammatoire accrue chez les vaches positives, en plus d’indiquer la presence de cytokines associees a une reponse de type Thi meme dans les stades plus avances de la maladie. II n ’en demeure pas moins que le resultat le plus interessant provient du dosage de l’IL-17. Effectivement, cette cytokine presente un patron tres different selon le stade d ’avancement de la maladie. Chez les vaches dans le stade plus tardif, la concentration mesuree est plus grande que chez les vaches saines. Le contraire survient chez les vaches positives dans le stade moins avance, puisqu’elles ont une concentration moins elevee que les vaches saines. Ces resultats suggerent qu’a long terme les vaches infectees par MAP developpent une reponse systemique de type Thn, alors qu’a court terme cette reponse n ’est pas encore presente. Pour appuyer l’hypothese d’une orientation de la reponse lymphocytaire vers une augmentation des lymphocytes Thn, un essai d’infection de macrophages in vitro a ete 73 realise a partir des monocytes isoles du sang de 8 vaches saines. Par la suite, l’expression genique a permis d ’observer l’augmentation significative de plusieurs genes impliques dans la differentiation en lymphocytes Thn- Ainsi, l’IL-ip, l’IL-6 et l’IL-23 presentent une augmentation soutenue de leur expression suite a 1’infection par MAP, et ce jusqu’a 24 heures apres l’infection. Quant au TGF-{3, il augmente legerement suite a l’infection, cependant d’autres types cellulaires peuvent secreter cette cytokine et done expliquer le fait que son expression n’est que tres legerement augmentee. Pour ce qui est de 1’IL-10, 1’augmentation de son expression de maniere tres precoce, soit des la premiere heure apres l’infection suggere un mecanisme mis en place par la bacterie pour eviter un appel massif ainsi qu’une pro-inflammation avant son entree dans les macrophages. Cette hypothese explique pourquoi l’expression du TNF-a et de l’IL-8 est a leur plus bas a 1 heure d’infection, alors que par la suite survient une phase pro-inflammatoire ainsi qu’un appel soutenu de monocytes au site d’infection et ce jusqu’a 24 heures apres l’infection. DEUXIEME ARTICLE Interpretive Summary: Impaired cell proliferation and increased circulating IFN-y, IL-17 and osteopontin in bovine paratuberculosis. Dudemaine. Dairy cows infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis had lower capacity to sustain cellular proliferation, suggesting an altered immune response. Plasma IFN-y levels were higher in positive cows than in non-infected cows, whereas IL-4 and IL-10 levels did not differ. Osteopontin and IL-17 were higher in the seropositive infected cows, suggesting a T-helper type-17 (Thl7) response similar to that in many chronic inflammatory diseases. This Thi7 response was supported by gene expression results from an in vitro macrophage infection assay, suggesting a shift toward a Thi7 immune response early in infection. Running head: ALTERED IMMUNE RESPONSE IN PARATUBERCULOSIS Title: Impaired cell proliferation and increased circulating IFN-y, IL-17 and osteopontin in bovine paratuberculosis P. L. Dudemaine*!, G. Fecteau!, M. Lessard*, O. Labrecque §, J. P. Roy !, and N. Bissonnette*! *Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada JIM 1Z3 tDepartement de biochimie, Faculte de medecine et des sciences de la sante, Universite de Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1H 5N4 £Faculte de medecine veterinaire, Universite de Montreal, St-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada J2S 2M2 §Laboratoire d’epidemiosurveillance animale du Quebec, St-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada J2S 7X9 75 ABSTRACT Bovine paratuberculosis, also known as Johne’s disease, is a chronic granulomatous enteritis caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Bovine paratuberculosis is currently incurable. The intracellular pathogen MAP subverts the immunological vigilance of the host, and antibody response to MAP takes time to develop. Therefore, serological detection of subclinical cows is difficult and some infectious animals remain seronegative for years. Diagnostic tools involving direct PCR, microbiological culture of the pathogen from feces, or serological detection by ELISA are not consistently effective. Diagnostic tools are more efficient during the later phases of the disease. A better understanding of the immune response is required to achieve better Johne’s disease control programs. Negative animals (n = 29) were selected from paratuberculose-free herds with at least 80% of the animals diagnosed negative in fecal culture (FC) and ELISA without any positive results in the herd during the 2-year study. Positive animals were selected with a positive FC (n = 31). According positive cows: single-positive to ELISA results, two groups were (n = 22) and double-positive madefrom the FC (n = 9). Analysis of lymphoproliferation in the presence of serum from healthy or MAP-infected cows showed 15% less lymphocyte proliferation in the infected group. The plasma levels of the IL-4, IL-10, IL-17, IFN-y, and osteopontin cytokines were measured and revealed distinct patterns. Whereas IL-4 and EL-10 concentrations in the healthy cows were similar to those in the ELISA-positive cows, the latter had elevated levels of IFN-y, IL-17, and osteopontin, showing that a proinflammatory state was established in these subclinical cows. These results suggest a strong T-helper type-17 (Thn) immune response, supported by gene expression data from in vitro MAP infection of bovine macrophages. High upregulation of tumor necrosis factor-a, IL-ip, IL-6, IL-23, and transforming growth factor-(3 was observed as early as 6 h postinfection for all those cytokines required in the establishment of a Thn immune response. Key Words: bovine paratuberculosis, immune response, Thn, lymphoproliferation 76 INTRODUCTION Bovine paratuberculosis, also called Johne’s disease (JD), is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Infection by this pathogen results in a chronic, slowly progressive granulomatous enteritis affecting a wide range of wildlife and domesticated ruminants (Collins et al., 1994; Carta et al., 2013). The MAP pathogen is an intracellular bacterium that infects mainly the immune cells associated with the digestive system. An individual becomes infected by the fecal-oral route, by contaminated food, or even in utero (Whittington and Windsor, 2009). The MAP bacteria establish themselves in the intestinal submucosa, where they niche and slowly proliferate. The onset of clinical disease is unpredictable. A number of years later (5-7 yr), the animal will develop the clinical signs of the disease, which include intermittent to chronic diarrhea, granulomatous inflammation, and cachexia, and which cause the eventual death of the infected animal. The disease is insidious, because before the clinical signs appear, an infected animal excretes the pathogen in feces and potentially sheds MAP into the environment. Given that paratuberculosis is an incurable disease, it must be controlled and detected effectively in subclinical animals before they become infectious. Although MAP can infect multiple mammalian species, it is primarily a disease problem in ruminants worldwide. In the Canadian dairy industry, this slowly progressive disease is responsible for significant economic losses, which reach nearly $2,500/yr for a 50-cow herd and are estimated at $15 million to $90 million annually (Chi et al., 2002). Johne’s disease is responsible for huge economic losses in livestock productivity worldwide (Whittington et al., 2012), a situation that is compelling numerous countries to increase efforts to control the disease (Bakker et al., 2000). The economic losses associated with JD are due mainly to reduced production, wasting, weight loss, and the inevitable culling of infected animals (Harris and Barletta, 2001). The pathogen MAP inducing ruminant paratuberculosis is zoonotic; the typical clinical characteristics associated to paratuberculosis are being described as the Johne’s disease. Although JD is not an epidemic disease and its incidence was formerly sporadic, the prevalence of infected animals as a result of modern farming practices has raised bovine paratuberculosis disease to a global concern. Dairy, beef, and goat producers have invested 77 significantly in eradicating JD, but the diagnostic tests available are disappointing, and there is still controversy surrounding the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing infection (Park et al., 2011; Stabel et al., 2011; Alonso-Heam et al., 2012; Knust et al., 2013; Lu et al., 2013). Efforts to control JD have been impeded by the failure to detect early infection, the lack of an effective vaccine, and the lack of understanding of the immune response to MAP. Although precautions to decrease herd-to-herd transmission through better on-farm biosecurity procedures have been taken in place in many countries, paratuberculosis is unfortunately thought to have reached high herd prevalence, above 70% for US dairies (Lombard et al., 2013). To control the disease assuming such wide dissemination in herds, it is obviously necessary to achieve effective diagnosis during the initial period following MAP infection to help eliminate subclinical cows. Most diagnostic tools have high specificity and use either the direct methods for detection (e.g. by PCR or the bacterial culture of the feces) or an indirect method (e.g. ELISA for detecting antibody in the serum or milk). However, these diagnostic tools become more sensitive generally in the late stages of JD. Moreover, the diagnosis of paratuberculosis is hampered by several factors. The slow progression of the disease, with intermittent and low shedding of MAP in feces by subclinical animals, makes isolation of the organism difficult (Leite et al., 2012). Because the antibody production is considerably impaired as the intracellular pathogen MAP subverts the immune system, the serological detection (ELISA) is not sensitive. The result is low sensitivity for diagnostic tools, which is thought to be between 30% and 50% for fecal culture compared with necropsy (Sockett et al., 1992; Whitlock et al., 2000) and for antibody-related assays relative to fecal culture (Kalis et al., 2002; McKenna et al., 2005). No efficient treatment for JD exists, and the confusion surrounding whether vaccination, direct detection, and indirect detection are effective has impaired the control of bovine paratuberculosis. Analysis of the immune status of MAP-infected cows seems to be a prime step toward a better understanding of the immune response as the disease progresses and therefore might provide useful clues about the efficiency of diagnosis based on antibody- or cell-mediated immune response. Immunological studies in subclinical adult ruminants with paucibacillary and multibacillary lesions have led to the proposal that a T-helper type-1 (Thi)-dominant lymphocyte immune response (IFN-y secretion) is induced predominantly during the early subclinical stages of the infection and is followed by a switch to a T-helper 78 type-2 (Th2) response later on (Chiodini et al., 1984; Stabel, 2000; Coussens, 2004). The microorganism elicits a cell-mediated response by the host, and as the disease progresses from subclinical to clinical, the cell-mediated immune response wanes, and a strong humoral response becomes dominant. Recently, this theory has been questioned (Begg et al., 2011), and the proposed switch does not seem to be so obvious. However, experts agree that MAP infection alters many aspects of the immune response, including activation through toll-like receptors (Subharat et al., 2012) and the cytokine expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM C) (Verschoor et al., 2010). Such modifications in the immune response may cause serious difficulty in terms of dealing with MAP invasion and could possibly lead to greater chronicity and severity of the disease. In the last few years, several human autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, allergic asthma, and psoriasis (Varona et al., 2003; Teraki et al., 2004; Lundy et al., 2005; Hirota et al., 2007), have been associated with the secretion of IL-17 by T-helper type-17 (Thn) lymphocytes. The proinflammatory cytokine IL-17 is believed to sustain a long-term inflammation site, causing dysfunction of the tissue, which has been invaded with numerous immune cells. Interesting data also suggest that the Thn subset may be involved in Crohn’s disease (Brand, 2009). It remains unknown whether this subset has implications in JD, but some recent studies proposed a role in mycobacterial host defense (Curtis and Way, 2009). Also, it has been shown that IL-17 is upregulated in mesenteric lymph node cells from MAP-infected cows (Shu et al., 2011). Besides the resemblance between Johne’s and Crohn’s diseases, the implication of the Thn population in inflammatory bowel disease provides insight into the potential involvement of this lymphocyte class in the development of paratuberculosis. With a view to improving our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development of JD, the goal of the present study was to investigate and compare the capacity of serum to sustain lymphocyte functions and cytokine profiles of healthy cows and MAP-infected cows. It was hypothesized that, first, immune response is systematically disturbed through inherent serum inhibitor content and, second, plasma cytokines exhibit diverse profiles regarding animal status for MAP infection. 79 MATERIALS AND METHODS Ethics Statement All animal procedures were carried out according to the Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines for institutional animal use, and ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Animal Ethics Committee (protocol number 362). A nim al Diagnosis and Selection The animals used for this study were screened by the Laboratoire d ’epidemiosurveillance animale du Quebec (Saint-Hyacinthe, Qc) for paratuberculosis both by bacterial culture of individual fecal samples and by serological detection using the Pourquier ELISA (IDEXX Laboratories, Markham, ON, Canada), as described by the manufacturer. A total of 24 destall dairy herds in Quebec with known status (19 infected and 5 uninfected) were sampled twice in 2011. Cows diagnosed as negative for bovine paratuberculosis (n = 29) were selected from the 5 herds without positive serological results. At least 80% of the herd was confirmed negative in 2 consecutive bacterial cultures of individual feces. Negative animals older than 4.5 yr were selected for the study and were tested again on the day of sampling to ensure that no positive animals would be used in the following experiments. A total of 31 positive animals were identified from the 24 herds on the basis of a positive result in fecal culture and then separated into 2 cohorts, the first called single-positive (n = 22), as those cows were diagnosed as positive by fecal culture only, and the second called double-positive, as those cows were diagnosed as positive by both tests (n = 9). Blood Collection and Treatment Blood samples were taken from the jugular vein in 10-mL Vacutainer tubes with EDTA for plasma or without anticoagulant for serum. The EDTA tubes were chilled on ice immediately after sampling, whereas the serum was allowed to clot at 4°C for 4 h. The samples were centrifuged at 1,800 x g and 4°C for 15 min and then aliquoted into 2-mL portions and stored at -80°C until analysis. 80 Proliferation Assay To assess the capacity of the serum collected from paratuberculosis-free and infected cows to sustain cell proliferation, PBMC from 3 healthy cows were isolated, and then cells from incubated with serum from MAP uninfected and infected cows with or without concanavalin A (ConA; Sigma-Aldrich). Unless otherwise stated, all steps in the isolation were carried out at room temperature. Briefly, blood from the donor cows was collected from the jugular vein in 450-mL blood collection bags containing citrate dextrose. The buffy coat was collected from the interface following standard centrifugation in 50-mL sterile tubes at 1,200 x g for 15 min, diluted 1:2 with room-temperature RPMI 1640 medium (Wisent, St-Bruno, QC, Canada), and layered on Ficoll-Paque PLUS (GE Healthcare, Baie d’Urfe, QC, Canada), followed by centrifugation at 850 x g for 35 min. The PBMC were washed with RPMI 1640 medium, resuspended in 4 mL red blood cell lysing buffer (Sigma-Aldrich, Oakville, ON, Canada) for 2 min, and immediately diluted in RPMI 1640 medium, followed by centrifugation at 100 x g for 8 min. The cell count and viability were determined using the Countess Automated Cell Counter (Invitrogen, Burlington, ON, Canada). The cells were labeled with the Vybrant carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFDA SE) Cell Tracer Kit (Molecular Probes, Burlington, ON, Canada) and diluted in Hanks’ balanced salt solution (Wisent) at a concentration of 1 \iM following incubation at 39°C for 20 min to ensure uniform marking of the cells. After centrifugation at 100 x g for 8 min, excess CFDA-SE was removed by incubating the cells in RPMI 1640 medium at room temperature for 20 min, and then the cells were pelleted at 100 x g for 8 min. The cells were seeded at a density of 1 x 106 cells per well in 24-well plates containing antibiotic-free RPMI 1640 medium and 5% serum from negative or positive cows, supplemented with 200 mM L-glutamine (Wisent). Four wells were used for each condition with 0.3 and 1 pg/mL ConA and without (control). To avoid technical bias in the assays, each plate contained equal amounts of MAP-infected positive and negative cow sera. After 3 d of incubation, the non-adherent cells were pelleted in cytometry tubes, fixed in PBS/formaldehyde (4% vol/vol), and read in a 3-laser FACSCanto II flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, Mississauga, ON, Canada). 81 M easurem ent o f Plasma IFN-y, IL-17, an d IL-10 by ELISA Bovine IFN-y was measured using the Bovine IFN-y ELISA Development Kit (Mabtech, Mariemont, OH, USA) as described by the manufacturer. The samples and standard curve were measured in duplicate. Interleukin-10 in plasma was measured using the Bovine Interleukin 10 (IL-10) ELISA Kit (CUSABIO, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China) as recommended by the manufacturer. Interleukin-4 in plasma was measured using the ELISA Kit for Interleukin 4 (IL4) (USCN Life Science, Houston, TX, USA) as recommended by the manufacturer. Interleukin-17 in plasma was measured using the ELISA Kit for Interleukin 17 (IL17) (USCN Life Science) as recommended by the manufacturer. All ELISA plates were read using a SpectraMax Plus384 microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Downingtown, PA, USA). Osteopontin M easurem ent in Plasm a Samples Plasma osteopontin concentration was measured using sandwich ELISA as previously described (Bissonnette et al., 2012). Briefly, 96-well ELISA plates (Greiner Bio-One North America, Monroe, NC, USA) were coated with MAB193P (Maine Biotechnology Services, Portland, ME, USA) diluted 1:1,000 in a coating buffer (0.05 M Na2C 0 3 buffer [pH 9.2]), sealed, and incubated at 4°C overnight. The plates were washed twice with the washing buffer (PBS [pH 7.4] containing 0.05% Tween 20), incubated for 2 h with the blocking solution (PBS [pH 7.4] containing 1% fish skin gelatin), and finally washed 3 times prior to loading of the samples. The plates were incubated at room temperature for 1 h and then washed 3 times prior to the addition of the second antibody (bOPN-121) diluted in the blocking solution. The plates were incubated for 2 h and then washed 6 times before the addition of the anti-rabbit IgG coupled to horseradish peroxidase NA934V (GE Healthcare). Following incubation for 1 h and the final washing step, a solution of TMB Microwell Peroxidase Substrate (KPL, Gaithersburg, MD, USA) was added to each well, and the plates were incubated for 10 min before stopping solution (2.0M H2S 0 4) was added. The plates were read at 450 nm using a SpectraMax Plus384 microplate reader (Molecular Devices). Duplicates of the standard curve were included on every ELISA plate. 82 Preparation o f Bovine M onocyte-D erived M acrophages and Stimulation For monocyte isolation, 700 mL whole blood was collected from 8 healthy cows, and PBMC were collected as described above. Monocytes were isolated by adherence as described by Zhou et al. (2012) with minor modifications. Cells were seeded at a density of 5 x 106 cells in 6-well flat-bottom plates in complete medium consisting of RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated bovine heterologous serum and IX antibiotics and antifungals (Centrafarm, Etten-Leur, The Netherlands) at 39°C in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO 2 . The cells were incubated for 2 h to allow monocytes to adhere, and then cells in suspension were removed. Following 18 h incubation (d 1), the cells were washed twice, and the medium was replaced with 2 mL fresh antibioticcontaining medium to remove any non-adherent cells. The identity and purity of monocytes was confirmed by flow cytometry using an anti-CD 14 Pacific Blue-labeled antibody as described by Taraktsoglou et al. (2011), and CD14+ cell purity greater than 99% was achieved. The cells were then incubated with RPMI 1640 medium containing 10% heatinactivated fetal bovine serum (Sigma-Aldrich) at 39°C in 5% CO 2 for 8 to 10 d. By d 10, 80-90% confluent monolayers displayed the characteristic macrophage morphology and confirmed purity greater than 98% using flow cytometry with an anti-CD68 antibody. The monocyte-derived macrophages were used for the in vitro challenge experiments. A multiplicity of infection of 10:1 for the MAP pathogen (field strain 39382) was used to stimulate the cells. Prior to add MAP to cell culture, macrophages were incubated for 24 h in antibiotic-free media. Infection periods of 1, 6, 14, and 24 h were performed, and uninfected controls were harvested at time zero and 24 h. Assays were stopped using 1 mL of cell lysing buffer (RLT buffer; Qiagen, Toronto, ON, Canada) added to each well. RNA Extraction and Quantitative Real-Tim e PCR The RNA extraction and quantification by real-time PCR following reverse transcription (qRT-PCR) were performed as previously described (Levesque-Sergerie et al., 2007) with minor modifications. All qRT-PCR reactions were performed in triplicate using 500 ng total RNA. The cDNA was then diluted in molecular-grade H 2 O and stored in multiple aliquots at -20°C for subsequent use. Primers were designed for each gene using the Primer Express 3 software package (Applied Biosystems, Life Technologies Corporation, 83 Burlington, ON, Canada) using the reference sequence from the RefSeq database of the National Center for Biotechnology Information depository. Optimizations were performed for each gene by testing different concentrations of both forward and reverse primers, each ranging from 50 to 900 nM. Estimations of primer efficiencies were analyzed using the standard curves made from a serial dilution of a pool of cDNA samples. Supplementary Table 1 provides experimental information and PCR amplification efficiency for all genes. The qRT-PCR reactions (20-pL final volume) were performed on 96-well plates using Power SYBR Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems) in a StepOnePlus Real-Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems) as per the manufacturer’s instructions. The PCR thermal cycling conditions comprised an initial 20-s denaturation step at 95°C followed by 40 cycles at 95°C for 3 s followed by an annealing/elongation period at 60°C for 30 s. A dissociation step was included for all amplifications to confirm the presence of single discrete PCR products of the expected size; this was further confirmed by visualization of the amplification products on 2% agarose gels. The expression of 4 putative reference genes, namely P-actin (ACTB), cyclophilin A (PPIA), ubiquitously expressed transcript ( UXT), and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monoxygenase activation protein, zeta polypeptide (YWHAZ), was determined for all samples. The UXT or PPIA genes were identified by BestKeeper (Pfaffl et al., 2004) as the most stable genes. Pairwise analysis of expression ratios using the geNorm software (Vandesompele et al., 2002) was used to confirm UXT and PPIA as internal controls. Their geometrical means were used for normalization of longitudinal gene expression profiling as described previously (Bionaz and Loor, 2007). The qRT-PCR results were analyzed according to the comparative CT method, given by the arithmetic formula 2_(AACt) (Livak and Schmittgen, 2001). Statistical Analysis Differences in lymphoproliferation were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison tests. Differences in plasmatic cytokine secretion were determined on transformed data using ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison tests for IL-17, IFN-y, and osteopontin. Plasma concentrations of IL-10 and IL-4 were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison tests. Quantitative RT-PCR was analyzed by average fold-change analysis in combination with Student’s t-test. 84 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Currently, there is no test available for rapid, sensitive, and accurate detection of subclinical MAP-infected cows. Diagnosis of MAP infection in live animals is currently performed by carrying out PCR amplification of MAP genetic material from feces, by culturing the bacteria from feces, or by testing serum by ELISA to detect MAP-specific antibodies. This serological detection is positive only when the cow develops an immune response to the bacteria. Currently, there appears to be some confusion regarding the reason for the lack of sensitivity of ELISA detection. On the basis of immune response studies on animals with paucibacillary or multibacillary (abundant) lesions, many researchers have suggested that a Thi (cell-mediated; IFN-y) and Th2 (humoral; specific antibody) balance occurs over time ((Whittington et al., 2013), and references therein). This assumption is further supported by the ability of the intracellular pathogen to subvert the immune system. As a result, it has been generally accepted that MAP-specific antibodies are produced only late in the disease process. However, other studies have indicated that the immune responses to MAP infection are more complex than previously thought, with both humoral and cellular immunity potentially playing key roles (Waters et al., 2003; Begg et al., 2011). In the present study and as observed by Whittington et al. (2013)), the patterns of MAP antigen inducing production of IFN-y (Thi) and antibody responses vary dramatically among subclinical animals (data not shown). However, the serum from the MAP-infected cows dampened lymphocyte proliferation compared to serum from to negative cows, an observation confirmed using the PBMC isolated from 3 different non-infected cows (Figure 1; P = 0.001). The serum from the subclinical cows that did not have a clear humoral immune response (single-positive) generated results similar to those for the serum from the ELISA-positive cows (P = 0.198). 85 70 • 60 • ■ -/« 5 0 .2 40 ■ £ c ' □ + /- □ +/+ 2 Q> | oZ 30 ■ 20 ■ 10 ■ 0 • Figure 1. Capacity of the serum from cows infected with bovine paratuberculosis to support the proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Data are shown as means ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Tukey’s corrections. In other words, the serum from both infectious and subclinical-infected cows contains antiproliferative factors that do not support lymphocyte proliferation. This observation may explain, in part, the progressive evolution of the disease toward an anergic state (Waters et al., 1999). If systemic suppression of the immune system occurs and impairs the lymphocyte response, it may also explain the delay in antibody production. Whether this inhibition is generated by the MAP pathogen or is a consequence of chronic impaired immunity of the host is unknown, but such generalized and sustained inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation by the serum represents a real advantage for this slow-growing pathogen. Bacteria have evolved in parallel with their hosts and have found many ways to interfere with normal cell signaling to unsettle host defenses against pathogens (Hornef et al., 2002). Many bacteria can produce proteins that have the potential to impair phagocytosis and to modulate the activation of innate and acquired immune functions (Rosenberger and Finlay, 2003). The main goal of which is to disturb the host immune 86 system while the pathogen is establishing infection. Therefore, the dampening of lymphocyte proliferation is an efficient strategy used by this slow-growing pathogen to establish infection. The reduced capacity of serum to support lymphocyte proliferation leads to the hypothesis that the serum of MAP-infected cows contains anti-inflammatory cytokines. Accordingly, many researchers have suggested that the development of regulatory T (Treg) cells that effectively limit effector T cell responses would account for the loss of proinflammatory responses (Buza et al., 2004; Coussens, 2004; Weiss et al., 2005). In particular, it has been postulated that the anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokine secreted by the Treg lymphocytes limits the peripheral and tissue-specific Thi immune responses of JD-positive cows (de Almeida et al., 2008). In the present study, however, the plasma concentration of IL-10 did not differ between the groups (Figure 2A; P = 0.404), an observation that suggests that IL-10 may not be implicated in the long-term systemic disorder observed in bovine paratuberculosis. Alternatively, the reduced proliferation may be associated with a switch that, it has been suggested, occurs as the disease progresses (Stabel, 2000). According to the Th|-Th2 dogma, cows become ELISA positive as the switch occurs. Given that IL-4 and IFN-y are the Thi- and ^ -a ss o c ia te d cytokines, respectively, plasma levels of IL-4 and IFN-y (Figures 2B and C, respectively) were measured. The levels of IL-4 in the MAPinfected cows were similar to those in the uninfected cows (Figure 2B; P > 0.07), IFN-y blood concentrations were more elevated in both positive groups than in the negative group (Figure 2C; P = 0.013). These results did not fit the Thi-Th2 dogma. Many studies have reported an augmentation of IFN-y expression in the tissue and PBMC of subclinical cows (Sweeney et al., 1998; Coussens et al., 2004) and JD-positive cows (Shu et al., 2011), but to the present authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that a higher IFN-y concentration has been reported in the plasma of MAP-infected cows. Interestingly, the infected cows with serologically negative results (i.e. absence of MAP-specific antibodies) had a reduced IL-4 blood level (Figure 2b; P = 0.029) compared with the infected group with ELISA-positive results. Although the difference with the uninfected cows was not significant (P = 0.075), the lower level of this Th2 cytokine suggests an impaired humoral immune response for these MAP-infected cows. 87 Dysregulation of cytokine signaling from infected cells could progressively induce a resilient immunity, as previously suggested (Koo et al., 2004; Allen et al., 2009; Park et al., 2011). Studies in humans and mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis have suggested that dysregulation of cytokine signaling leads to induction of Treg cells (Kursar et al., 2007; Sharma et al., 2009). It is postulated that Treg cells play a similar role in bovine paratuberculosis (de Almeida et al., 2008). However, much of the evidence for the importance of Treg cells in bovine paratuberculosis is circumstantial and speculative. More recent findings suggest that Thi and Thn cytokines in PBMC in response to live MAP stimulation, rather than Treg-associated factors, are associated with bovine paratuberculosis (Park et al., 2011). Considering the resemblance between JD and Crohn’s disease and the implication of Thn lineage cells in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease (Brand, 2009), IL17 was quantified in the present study. The plasma IL-17 level in the MAP-infected cows from the double-positive group showed a higher concentration (Figure 2D; P = 0.001). Similar to the results obtained for the IL-4 cytokine, the IL-17 level in the plasma of the cows in the single-positive group was also lower (Figure 2D; P = 0.020) than the concentration measured in the non-infected cows, an observation that suggests that infection in these single-positive cows was at a less advanced stage. B P 0 404 /* - 0.011 14 1/ 40 ■/ V. a */ [ > /• 40 i H - 0 .0 0 * /> P o:<t so 90 p J 40 - to 1 t OOP 100 o o :v A P 80 10 W 30 70 /* - 0 031 40 60 40 4S i JS /O 2 0 001 P - 0020 ;s JO is IO 10 s 0 0 Figure 2. Plasma concentration of IL-10, IL-4, IFN-y, IL-17, and osteopontin cytokines. The cows were classified according to their status as negative, single-positive (positive results from the bacterial culture of fecal samples), or double-positive (both serological detection and bacterial positive cultures). The concentrations of IL-10 (A), IL-4 (B), EFN-y (C), IL-17 (D) and osteopontin (E) were measured in the plasma. Data are shown as means ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed using ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple corrections. 00 00 89 The osteopontin level was also examined in the present study to further support the idea that the chronicity of the disease occurs concomitantly with a gradual and progressive Thn shift. Osteopontin is suspected to play a role in the secretion (Murugaiyan et al., 2008), regulation (Shinohara et al., 2008), and differentiation of naive CD4 and CD8 T cell subsets with Thn effector activity (Chen et al., 2010). In the present study, a higher osteopontin concentration was measured in the MAP-infected cows (Figure 2E). The level was slightly but significantly more elevated in the blood of the cows from the single-positive group (P = 0.031) and nearly 25% higher (P = 0.004) in the blood of the double-positive group compared with the levels in the non-infected cows. The osteopontin level in the non­ infected cows was similar to the plasma level measured in a previous study in 15 cows sampled weekly during a full lactation period (Dudemaine et al., 2013). The blood level of the osteopontin cytokine is thus highly stable. Interestingly, given that osteopontin is a marker for inflammatory bowel disease (Neuman, 2012), the significantly higher osteopontin level is therefore associated with the proinflammatory condition prevailing for the MAP-infected cows. These results suggest that the cows in the double-positive group were in a later stage of the disease, as suggested previously for ELISA-positive cows shedding MAP into their feces (Chiodini et al., 1984; Collins et al., 1991; Collins and Sockett, 1993; Whitlock et al., 2000). Accordingly, these results also suggest a slow progression toward a Thn state. Robinson et al. (2011) demonstrated that IL-17 mRNA is upregulated in jejunal lymph nodes from severely diseased animals compared with those from healthy or minimally diseased animals, and proposed that the progression to a Thn state could be due to the chronicity of the disease. In the same way, the present results suggest that this Thn shift becomes predominant for ELISA-positive cows shedding MAP into their feces as a consequence of the systemic proinflammatory status. In support of this new Thi/Thn paradigm, the gene expression profiles of several cytokines were analyzed in MAP-infected macrophages, considering that cytokine signaling by primed macrophages activates naive T cells to differentiate into T cell subsets. The analysis confirms that the secretion of cytokines may play a pivotal role in driving the differentiation of naive CD4 and CD8 T cells into the type of subsets with Thn effector activity. The levels of IL-lfi, IL-6, and IL-23 transcripts were quantified by qRT-PCR, and an upregulation was observed as early as 1 h postinfection (Figure 3; P < 0.05. 90 160 140 ■ IL-10 120 ■ IL-6 C o 100 ■ TGF-0 a s4* 06 41 ?<9 80 2 60 o ■ IL-23A ■ TNF-a □ IL-8 40 ■ IL-10 20 14 24 Post infection (h) Figure 3. Transcription of cytokines in bovine macrophages infected with live Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Total RNA was extracted from macrophages after 1, 6, 14, and 24 h infection, and the gene expression of cytokines was measured by qRT-PCR. The relative gene expression (fold increase) was calculated using two housekeeping genes (PPIA and UXT) and the uninfected macrophages (nil control) as normalized by the 2-<AACt) method. Data are shown as the means of 3 independent assays. The error bars indicate standard error. *, significant difference compared with cytokine transcription in the nil control (P < 0.05). Interestingly, these cytokines are implicated in the differentiation or maintenance of human or mouse Thn cells (Bettelli et al., 2006; Manel et al., 2008; Jonsson et al., 2012), and their high levels persisted for longer infection periods (Supplementary File 2). The transforming growth factor-p (TGF-fi) gene was slightly (~ 1.5-fold) induced at 14 h and for a longer infection period (Figure 3; P < 0.05). Although the cooperation of TGF-p with IL-6 supports naive T cell differentiation into Thn effector cells, IL-23 is associated with the clonal expansion of these cells. Indeed, Thn cells are differentiated by a combination of the cytokines TGF-P, IL-6, and IL-1p, which induce RORyt, a transcription factor required for 91 the generation of these cells (Mangan et al., 2006). Whereas TGF-P and IL-6 can induce Thi7 cells, exposure to another cytokine, IL-23, is crucial for the clonal expansion and stabilization of these cells and for their ability to induce autoimmune tissue inflammation. Additionally, the proinflammatory tumor necrosis factor-a (T N F -a) and IL-8 genes were abundantly expressed in bovine macrophages and increased, respectively, of nearly 104±41 times (at 6 h; P = 0.020) and 15±3 times (14— 24 h; PcO.OOlA). Anti­ inflammatory IL-10 gene expression was also induced throughout the infection period (P < 0.011), but to a lesser extent. As the infection progressed, IL-10 was less abundant and decreased to 2-fold at 24 h. Although TNF-a cooperates with LL-17 in the proinflammatory processes induced in many autoimmune diseases (Ouyang et al., 2008), these proinflammatory cytokines may contribute to the recruitment of neutrophils and other immune cells. The in vitro macrophage infection assays with live MAP provide a better understanding of the initial processes in place. These results support the hypothesis that macrophages infected with MAP lead to a global dominance of a Thn-polarizing environment. Results from this project may contribute to a better understanding of the immune dysregulation and provide information for the development of immune-based diagnosis of bovine paratuberculosis. The different cytokine profiles observed between experimentation groups suggest that thorough characterization of the immune profile associated with bovine paratuberculosis worth consideration for studying disease progression. In addition, the identification of the factors in the serum of paratuberculosis cows which impair proliferative capacity of the lymphocyte cells could turn out to be useful markers for diagnosis. In the light of these results, further investigations are required to better understand this complex disease. CONCLUSIONS Bovine paratuberculosis results in inhibition of the proliferative capacity of the immune cells induced by the serum content of infected dairy cows. Plasma levels of IL-10 were similar for the non-infected cows and the MAP-infected cows from the positive groups. However, both IFN-y and osteopontin levels were higher in the MAP-positive cows, including those from the ELISA-positive groups. Interestingly, these MAP-infected cows 92 also had higher IL-17 blood levels, evidence of a systemic proinflammatory Thi7 state. Gene expression profiling of in vitro bovine macrophage infection with live MAP supports the hypothesis of a Thn lineage commitment with the upregulation of most of the cytokines required for the differentiation of naive T lymphocytes into a Thi7 subset. These results do not fit into the classical Thi/Th2 dichotomy. 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In utero infection of cattle with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis: a critical review and meta-analysis. Vet J 179(1 ):60-69. 98 Zhou, L., R. Somasundaram, R. F. Nederhof, G. Dijkstra, K. N. Faber, M. P. Peppelenbosch, and G. M. Fuhler. 2012. Impact of human granulocyte and monocyte isolation procedures on functional studies. Clin Vaccine Immunol 19(7): 1065-1074. DISCUSSION ET CONCLUSION La paratuberculose bovine est reconnue comme etant une infection bacterienne qui engendre un dereglement du systeme immunitaire des animaux atteints. Cependant, beaucoup de controverse existe au niveau des etapes menant a cette destabilisation generate de la reponse immunitaire. Lors de l’analyse des resultats obtenus pendant ce projet, plusieurs interrogations surviennent quant a la veracite du modele theorique adopte par la communaute scientifique. Effectivement, il est possible de se questionner sur les mecanismes d’implantation de la maladie, ainsi que le type de reponse immunitaire mise en place au niveau systemique. Plusieurs etudes menees precedemment avaient pour but d ’analyser la capacite des PBMC a produire une reponse de type Thi ou Th2 dans un contexte in vitro. Cependant, en supposant 1’induction d’une reponse immunitaire dirigee contre un pathogene intracellulaire chez les animaux infectes, une grande quantite de cellules de type Thi se retrouveront au site d’entree de l’organisme pathogene dans le but de combattre l’infection. II semble alors logique qu’en isolant les PBMC du sang peripherique, une plus grande proportion de lymphocytes Th2 s’y retrouveront. Dans cette optique, pour un isolement du mSme nombre de cellules immunes, il est normal d ’obtenir une capacite de production des cytokines de type T h2 plus elevee que chez des animaux sains ayant des proportions plus equilibrees de chacun des types cellulaires. C ’est pour cette raison que le dosage des cytokines plasmatiques a ete selectionne comme marqueur de la reponse immunitaire systemique mise en place. II est toutefois evident que ce genre de dosage ne considere pas la reponse immunitaire locale. D ’un autre cote, etant donne la secretion tres localisee des cytokines dans des conditions normales, l’observation d’un dereglement sanguin aussi important que celui mesure sous-entend une tres forte reponse locale de type Thi7 chez les vaches dans les stades plus avances dans la maladie. Plusieurs etudes tendent a demontrer une possible implication des lymphocytes Thi7 dans 1’evolution de la paratuberculose bovine (Allen et al., 2011, Robinson et al., 2011). Neanmoins, a notre connaissance, il s’agit de la premiere fois ou une difference est rapportee lors du dosage sanguin d’une cytokine specifique au type Thi7 , l’IL-17. Cette decouverte est potentiellement liee a la classification des animaux selon les deux tests diagnostiques utilises. En effet, les etudes portant sur l’immunite associee a la 100 paratuberculose utilisent un diagnostic unique des animaux, soit par culture fecale ou par ELISA. Dans le cas present, 1’utilisation des deux outils accorde la possibility d ’une classification plus elaboree, qui permet 1’appreciation de differences imperceptibles lors d’une classification selon la culture fecale seule. II est certain que 1’utilisation systematique des deux outils diagnostiques n’est pas envisageable dans un contexte de depistage. Toutefois, dans le but d’ameliorer la comprehension du developpement de la paratuberculose, 1’utilisation de tous les outils a la disposition permettra peut-etre de mettre en evidence des particularites telles que celles rapportes dans le deuxieme article. L’osteopontine etant impliquee dans un grand nombre de processus dans le corps et qu’il etait inconnu si les concentrations sanguines et du lait variait en fonction du stade de lactation, il a fallu etablir les taux d’osteopontine dans les deux fluides. Ainsi, il a ete possible d ’affirmer qu’il existe un taux basal dans le sang qui demeure constant tout au long de la lactation. De ce fait, les differences observees au travers nos groupes peuvent etre consideres comme etant reelles et non dependantes du stade de lactation au moment du prelevement. Pour la concentration dans le lait, etant donne sa variation au courant de la lactation, il est malheureusement impossible d ’entrevoir un dosage qui serait moins invasif pour les prelevements qu’une prise de sang. De plus, lors des essais d ’infection des macrophages in vitro, une difference d’expression de quelques genes relies a 1’immunite a ete mesuree selon le genotype du gene de l’osteopontine. II semblerait que selon les mutations observees dans le promoteur du gene, celui-ci soit regule differemment et ait le potentiel d ’affecter l’expression d ’autres genes immuns. Ainsi, si le gene peut etre regule differemment selon la genetique de son promoteur, il est envisageable que certains genotypes engendrent une susceptibility ou une resistance accrue aux infections par MAP. Quant a l’approche in vitro utilisee avec 1’infection des macrophages isoles a partir des monocytes sanguins, elle permet de fortifier les hypotheses mises en place. D ’une part, les cytokines subissant une forte augmentation de leur expression sont pour la plupart impliquees dans la voie de differenciation des lymphocytes T nai'fs en lymphocytes Thn. D’autre part, 1’augmentation de YIL-10 tres tot apres l’infection prone en faveur d ’une inhibition de I’inflammation pour permettre au pathogene de demeurer invisible du systeme immunitaire pendant qu’il s’etablit. L’analyse de la reponse des macrophages face au 101 pathogene a permis l’acquisition de connaissances tres interessantes, meme si ce type cellulaire seul ne donne en aucun cas une estimation globale des processus inities par le systeme immunitaire au complet. La mesure de l’expression de TGF-fi est un bon exemple en ce sens, puisque chez les macrophages, son expression n’est augmentee que d ’environ une fois et demie, alors que pour amorcer la differenciation en lymphocytes Thi7 , la presence marquee est requise. Done, cela propose qu’il y ait probablement d ’autres types cellulaires impliques dans le processus d ’implantation d’une reponse lymphocytaire de type T„I 7 . Dans un autre ordre d’idee, l’infection in vitro a egalement cause une augmentation tardive et soutenue de l’expression de YIL-8 ce qui insinue un appel de monocytes constant au site d ’infection et ce seulement quelques heures apres 1’infection initiale. Ainsi. MAP agit tout d’abord en s’assurant de penetrer les defenses de son hote en passant inapergu, puis amorce un appel continu de cellules etant des niches potentielles, dans le but d ’assurer sa dissemination dans un espace restreint. Dans tous les cas, il est evident que la paratuberculose cause une reaction proinflammatoire, que ce soit par les dosages de cytokines plasmatiques ou une augmentation d’lFN-y et d’IL-17 sont observees ou l’analyse de l’expression genique pour laquelle le TNF-a, IL -ip et IL-6 furent identifies comme fortement surexprimes. Toutefois, il demeure intriguant de constater en tout debut d ’infection l ’expression de YlL-10 en aussi grande quantite. II serait interessant de valider si ce phenomene est cause par MAP dans le but d ’assurer 1’implantation d ’une infection plus efficace. En conclusion, les experiences effectuees ont permis d’etablir des pistes afin de mieux comprendre la reaction immunitaire engendree lors d ’infection a MAP en plus de prendre conscience de l’ampleur de la dysfonction systemique generee chez les animaux infectes. II est maintenant possible d’envisager que la derive d ’une reponse T hi vers Th2 n ’est pas fondee, puisque les taux d ’IFN-y sont plus eleves chez les vaches positives que chez les vaches negatives. De plus, 1’implication des lymphocytes Thn semble evidente dans la progression de la maladie, lorsque les vaches sont classees selon les trois groupes etablis lors du diagnostic. Les resultats obtenus dans l’essai de lymphoproliferation donnent espoir d’arriver a identifier un marqueur expliquant une telle inhibition de la proliferation chez les 102 vaches ayant la paratuberculose. Dans le cas echeant, ce meme marqueur pourrait possiblement devenir un outil complementaire au diagnostic de la maladie. En perspective, le genotypage du gene SPP1 des vaches saines et infectees pourrait amener a decouvrir des mutations conferant une plus grande susceptibilite ou bien une resistance a la paratuberculose. De plus, une analyse plus approfondie des mecanismes menant a l ’implantation de la voie Thn devra etre menee. Etant donne que l’expression genique des macrophages semble indiquer une polarisation des les premieres heures vers cette voie, il sera necessaire de comprendre les raisons pour lesquelles la cytokine IL-17 n ’apparait dans le sang que plusieurs annees apres 1’infection initiale. De plus, il serait probablement utile de proceder a une etude chez des macrophages provenant de vaches saines et de vaches infectees pour mieux cibler au niveau genetique les causes de 1’implantation d ’une infection efficace chez certains animaux alors que d ’autres reussissent a controler le pathogene et s’en departir. II n’en demeure pas moins qu’une grande part de recherche devra encore etre effectuee pour arriver a mieux comprendre le faible rendement des outils diagnostiques et egalement identifier des methodes de controle efficaces a l’interieur des troupeaux infectes. REMERCIEMENTS Tout d’abord, j ’aimerais remercier tout specialement Dre Nathalie Bissonnette pour m ’avoir permis d ’effectuer mon projet de maftrise dans son laboratoire, mais egalement pour son aide et son devouement tout au long de mes etudes graduees. Un gros merci a Catherine Thibault egalement, assistante de recherche dans le laboratoire, pour son appui lors des experimentations et des nombreux prelevements sur les vaches. Frederic Beaudoin pour ses connaissances en immunologie, Karine Deschene pour son aide technique, Steve Methot pour les statistiques meritent aussi des remerciements. Encore merci aux personnes de l’etable du Centre de recherche et de developpement sur le bovin laitier et le pore de Sherbrooke, pour leur support lors des multiples prelevements. Finalement, un merci particulier a ma conjointe Claudie Lariviere pour m’avoir encourage et endure pendant toutes mes etudes, mes freres Daniel et Louis-Olivier ainsi que ma mere Ghislaine Lajoie et Jean mon pere. Merci LISTE DES PUBLICATIONS Alain, K., N. A. Karrow, C. Thibault, J. St-Pierre, M. Lessard, and N. Bissonnette. 2009. 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