title: Clinical Research Abstracts of the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress 2015.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New therapeutic strategies to modulate immune responses in human and equine allergic airway diseases are under extensive investigation. Stimulation of Treg cells with immune modulating agents is a novel therapeutic option.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this field study was to compare the effects of a nebulised nanoparticulate CpG immunotherapy (CpG-GNP) with and without specific allergens.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal clinical study comparing 2 therapeutic options.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty RAO-affected horses were divided into 2 treatment groups (CpG alone and CpG with allergens). Two specific allergens were selected for each horse according to anamnesis and a functional in vitro test. Treatments were given by nebulisation 7 times and the horses were examined 3 times: baseline (I), after the treatment course (II), and after 6 weeks later (III). Clinical parameters, indirect intrapleural measurement, arterial blood gas, amount of tracheal mucus and neutrophil percentage were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CpG alone resulted in a significant improvement in clinical parameters and a significant reduction of tracheal mucus after treatment and at 6 weeks post treatment. After CpG plus specific allergens, there was significant improvement of 70% of examined parameters. However, there were no significant differences in the results compared with CpG-GNP treatment alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were no significant differences between treatment groups. CpG-GNP immunotherapy alone produced a potent and persistent effect on allergic and inflammatory parameters and may have potential as for treatment of equine and human allergic inflammatory airway diseases. Ethical animal research: The study was approved by the regional legal agency for animal experiments of the Government of Bavaria, Germany (No. 55.2-1-54-2531-31-10). Owners gave informed consent for their horses' inclusion in the study. Sources of funding: Partly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (Germany) (GE'2044/4-1). The AeroNeb Go™ vibrating mesh nebuliser (Aerogen, Galway, Ireland) was sponsored by Inspiration Medical (Bochum, Germany). Competing interests: None declared.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klier
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic.|Free University of Berlin, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic, Surgery and Radiology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic.|Free University of Berlin, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic, Surgery and Radiology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steuer
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Science, Institute of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reese
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Small Animal Medicine Clinic.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic.|Free University of Berlin, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Equine Clinic, Surgery and Radiology, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gehlen