Efficacy of a vaccine formula against tuberculosis in cattle.

"Test-and-slaughter" has been successful in industrialized countries to control and eradicate tuberculosis from cattle; however, this strategy is too expensive for developing nations, where the prevalence is especially high. Vaccination with the Calmette-Guérin (BCG) strain has been shown to protect against the development of lesions in vaccinated animals: mouse, cattle and wildlife species. In this study, the immune response and the pathology of vaccinated (BCG-prime and BCG prime-CFP-boosted) and unvaccinated (controls) calves were evaluated under experimental settings. A 10(6) CFU dose of the BCG strain was inoculated subcutaneously on the neck to two groups of ten animas each. Thirty days after vaccination, one of the vaccinated groups was boosted with an M. bovis culture filtrate protein (CFP). Three months after vaccination, the three groups of animals were challenged with 5×10(5) CFU via intranasal by aerosol with a field strain of M. bovis. The immune response was monitored throughout the study. Protection was assessed based on immune response (IFN-g release) prechallenge, presence of visible lesions in lymph nodes and lungs at slaughter, and presence of bacilli in lymph nodes and lung samples in histological analysis. Vaccinated cattle, either with the BCG alone or with BCG and boosted with CFP showed higher IFN-g response, fewer lesions, and fewer bacilli per lesion than unvaccinated controls after challenge. Animals with low levels of IFN-g postvaccine-prechallenge showed more lesions than animals with high levels. Results from this study support the argument that vaccination could be incorporated into control programs to reduce the incidence of TB in cattle in countries with high prevalence.

Inhibitors of MAPK pathway ERK1/2 or p38 prevent the IL-1{beta}-induced up-regulation of SRP72 autoantigen in Jurkat cells.

Phosphorylation is the most important post-translational event at a cellular level that is regulated by protein kinases. MAPK is a key player in the important cellular signaling pathway. It has been hypothesized that phosphorylation might have a role in the induction of break tolerance against some autoantigens such as SRP72. The aim of this study was to explore the pathways of phosphorylation and overexpression of the SRP72 polypeptide, using an in vitro model of Jurkat cells stimulated by recombinant human (rh)IL-1ß in the presence of MAPK inhibitors. We used Jurkat cells as a substrate stimulated with rhIL-1ß in the presence of MAPK inhibitors at different concentrations in a time course in vitro experiment by immunoprecipitation, immunoprecipitation-Western blotting, and real time PCR. Our results showed that rhIL-1ß causes up-regulation of protein expression and phosphorylation of SRP72 in Jurkat cells. Inhibitors of the MAPK pathway ERK1/2 or p38α/ß down-regulate the expression of SRP72 autoantigen in Jurkat cells stimulated by rhIL-1ß. Our results highlight the importance of studying the pathways of activation and overexpression of autoantigens. It will be necessary to perform careful research on various kinases pathways, including MAPK in dermatomyositis and other rheumatic diseases, to help to explain the routes of activation and inhibition of autoantigens. The understanding of this process may help to develop new therapies to prevent and control the loss of tolerance toward own normal proteins.