Seroprevalence of Canine Herpesvirus-1 in Breeding Dogs with or Without Vaccination in Northwest Italy.

Canine herpesvirus-1 (CHV-1) can cause abortion and foetal and neonatal deaths in the bitch. The reactivation of latent infections with asymptomatic virus shedding represents a mechanism, whereby the virus can persist in a dog population. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of CHV-1 in a population of breeding dogs in Piedmont, Northern Italy, and to investigate the distribution of herpesvirus vaccination. The study was carried out in 370 animals that were housed in 33 breeding kennels. Antibodies against CHV-1 in serum samples were measured by means of serum neutralization. Vaccination had been performed in 21.2% of the kennels and 8.4% of the dogs. The overall seroprevalence of CHV-1 was 50.3%. In ten kennels (30.3%), no seropositive dogs were identified. The percentage of seropositive dogs ranged from 7.1% to 100% in positive kennels. More than 40% of the seropositive dogs showed high titres. Sex had no significant effect on either seroprevalence or the category of the serum titre. The number of positive animals was significantly lower in the groups of prepuberal bitches and animals younger than 1.5 years. The majority of younger animals showed very high titres, suggesting recent contact with the virus. Our data show that CHV-1 is a common infection in breeding dogs in Piedmont. Vaccination is rarely performed but might be an option, because, although many animals of breeding age already show high antibody titres, seronegative pregnant bitches will be at high risk of contracting the infection due to viral circulation in kennels where the virus is enzootic.

Two New Sturgeon Species are Susceptible to Acipenser Iridovirus European (AcIV-E) Infection.

We report the first case of Acipenser iridovirus European (AcIV-E) infection in starry sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) and in sterlet (A. ruthenus) reared in Northern Italy. During 2018, mortality began in A. stellatus and A. ruthenus specimens reared in co-habitation with Russian sturgeon positive for AcIV-E. Molecular analyses were done on the gills to amplify a fragment of the major capsid protein (MCP) gene using real-time PCR against AcIV-E. DNA of the positive samples was further sequenced and phylogenetic analyses were performed. The MCP gene sequences were highly similar to a virus previously identified in Italy (nucleotide identities between 99.38% and 99.69%). Phylogenetic analysis confirmed our hypothesis of passage of the virus from the infected Russian sturgeon. The detection of AcIV-E in new species of the Acipenseridae family may impact on sturgeon production, with relevant economic losses.

Immunogenetics of complement in mixed cryoglobulinaemia.

OBJECTIVES: A low C4 level is one of the hallmarks of mixed cryoglobulinaemia (MC). However, several reports suggest that other factors may be involved in C4 depletion. The C4 gene is located in a multiallelic CNV locus in the human MHC region. We studied the C4 gene copy number (GCN) and both C4A and C4B isotypes, as well as the presence of the hypofunctional C4A6 allotype (rs41315824) and C4A0 allotype (rs367709216) in 41 MC patients, 16 SLE patients and 78 healthy controls. METHODS: GCN of the C4 gene were evaluated by real time PCR. C4A6 allotype (p.Arg458Trp) and ins 2-bp mutation in exon 29 were screened by primer extension. Correlation with clinical signs of the disease (cutaneous ulcers, peripheral neuropathy, GN, purpura, hepatitis) have been performed by cluster analysis, (K-means algorithm). RESULTS: C4 GCN analysis showed that fewer MC patients had more than 2 copies of the C4A gene as well as a lower C4A gene-copy index (1.90 ± 0.54 vs. 2.21 ± 0.78) as compared to healthy controls. SNP rs41315824 analysis showed a significant increase in the frequency of the p.Arg458Trp (C4A6) variant in cryoglobulinaemic patients. Lastly, cluster analysis allowed us to identify two separate clusters of patients. The cluster that included patients with three or less C4 gene copies was found to have a greater prevalence of the most severe complications such as glomerulonephritis, neuropathy and severe cutaneous ulcers. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest there may be a relationship between polymorphisms of the C4 gene and clinical presentation.

Lab-on-a-chip: emerging analytical platforms for immune-mediated diseases.

Miniaturization of analytical procedures has a significant impact on diagnostic testing since it provides several advantages such as: reduced sample and reagent consumption, shorter analysis time and less sample handling. Lab-on-a-chip (LoC), usually silicon, glass, or silicon-glass, or polymer disposable cartridges, which are produced using techniques inherited from the microelectronics industry, could perform and integrate the operations needed to carry out biochemical analysis through the mechanical realization of a dedicated instrument. Analytical devices based on miniaturized platforms like LoC may provide an important contribution to the diagnosis of high prevalence and rare diseases. In this paper we review some of the uses of Lab-on-a-chip in the clinical diagnostics of immune-mediated diseases and we provide an overview of how specific applications of these technologies could improve and simplify several complex diagnostic procedures.