The effects of simultaneous foot-and-mouth disease and Escherichia coli vaccination on the immunity of pregnant cows and their calves.

Fighting against infectious diseases with almost 18 million cattle spread over a wide geographical area is troublesome economically and physically. The administration of different vaccines simultaneously during the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination campaign will help reduce both the vaccine stress of animals and the field veterinarians' workload. Diarrhea due to Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a significant problem and a major cause of mortality in calves, and thus, simultaneous application of FMD and E. coli vaccines to dams would prove efficient in field conditions. This study aimed to investigate the effect of simultaneous administration of four different locally produced gel and oil adjuvant inactivated E. coli vaccines with locally produced oil adjuvant inactivated FMD vaccine on neutralizing antibody levels and the properties of the antibodies in late-term pregnant dams and their calves. For this purpose, seven to eight-month-old pregnant dams (n = 146) were divided into two main groups to receive two doses (single and booster), or only single dose (no booster). FMD neutralizing antibody titers were evaluated by a virus neutralization test against serotype A, O, and Asia1. In addition, the properties of antibodies against serotype A were assessed by isotype and avidity ELISAs. E. coli antibodies were measured by the hemagglutination inhibition test. Results of the study revealed no safety problems in any dams after the vaccinations. On day 42, calves of the dams vaccinated simultaneously had higher neutralizing antibody titers against three serotypes than the calves of only FMD vaccinated dams. IgG1/IgG2 ratio was higher in single-dose groups than booster-dose groups against serotype A in calves. The avidity index was detected over the threshold value (24.5%). A positive correlation was found in the transmission of maternal antibodies from mothers to calves in simultaneous administration groups. In conclusion, during the FMD vaccine campaigns, FMD and E. coli vaccines can be simultaneously applied to dams in the 7th and 8th months of gestation. Results of this study has led to the inclusion of simultaneous application of FMD and E. coli vaccines in the 'Animal Disease and Animal Movement Control Program-2018' and these two vaccines have been applied in the field ever since as a solution for field veterinarians to save time and labor during vaccination.

Monitoring the performance of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines prepared against local strains in the face of antigenic evolution in the field.

National programs for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) eradication includes the use of vaccination; Turkey which is endemic to FMD virus (FMDV) (except for the Thrace region) and there is a risk of incursion of exotic strains from eastern borders. In 2015, a devastating outbreak was caused by the A/ASIA/G-VII (G-VII) lineage, which led to the inclusion of a new vaccine strain (A/TUR/15) derived from this lineage in 3 months. Although most of the cattle population in Turkey was then immunized with A/TUR/15 (vaccine coverage: 92.8%), the G-VII lineage continued to cause outbreaks in the field despite the evidence of protection observed with A/TUR/15 in in vivo and in vitro tests. When G-VII field strains were examined, changes in their genomes were detected. As the lineage appeared to be evolving, an unconventional vaccination strategy was adapted which changed the vaccine strain with new variants of G-VII according to antigenic evolution. To assess the suitability of candidate vaccine strains derived from the variants of the G-VII lineage, three viral candidates were assessed (A/TUR/15, A/TUR/16 and A/TUR/17) by in vitro virus neutralization tests for r1 vaccine matching and in vivo heterologous challenge tests. Although all three vaccine strains were antigenically well matched with each other and other G-VII field viruses, due to continues outbreaks the vaccine strain was changed three times in 20 months from A/TUR/15 (Dec 2015) to A/TUR/16 (Dec 2016) and then to A/TUR/17 (Aug 2017). With this strategy serotype A has not been observed in the field since January 2018. This study highlights the importance of adapting the vaccine strains according to antigenic evolution as this could be a valuable combat strategy in endemic countries, rather than using well-known vaccine strain and relying only on the relationship coefficient (r1 ) value.

Piperlongumine inhibits cell growth and enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis in prostate cancer cells

Objective: To investigate whether piperlongumine can sensitize prostate cancer cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and trigger apoptosis in prostate cells.Methods: Human prostate cancer cell lines PC3, LNCaP, and VCaP were cultured with piperlongumine and TRAIL. Then, cell proliferation, migration, caspase activation, apoptotic protein expressions, and death receptor expressions were measured. Results: Piperlongumine inhibited cell proliferation at low doses (<10 μM) alone and in combination with TRAIL (25 ng/mL), induced apoptosis, and suppressed cyclooxygenase activation. Additionally, piperlongumine induced expression of death receptors which potentiated TRAIL-induced apoptosis in cancer cells but did not affect decoy receptors. Piperlongumine also downregulated tumor cell-survival pathways, inhibited colony formation and migration of cancer cells alone or in combination with TRAIL. The combination of piperlongumine with TRAIL was found to be synergistic. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that piperlongumine can sensitize cancer cells to TRAIL through the upregulation of death receptors and can trigger apoptosis with the downregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins.