title: Potential use of local and systemic humoral immune response parameters to forecast Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae associated lung lesions.
abstract: Immunopathological events are key for the development of enzootic pneumonia (EP), which is macroscopically observed as cranioventral pulmonary consolidation (CVPC). This study aimed to investigate the putative association between the humoral immune response against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae) and prevalence and extension of CVPC in 1) experimentally infected pigs, 2) slaughtered pigs and 3) sequentially necropsied pigs in a longitudinal study. CVPC was scored by means of the European Pharmacopoeia recommended methodology. Specific IgG, IgG1 and IgG2 antibodies were assessed in serum. In addition, mucosal IgG and IgA antibodies were analyzed in broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from experimentally challenged pigs. The systemic humoral immune response in experimentally infected pigs was delayed in onset whereas humoral respiratory mucosal immune response appeared more rapidly but declined earlier. Although low, BALF IgG antibodies showed the highest correlation with CVPC scores (r = 0.49, p<0.05). In slaughter-aged pigs, both percentage of lungs with CVPC and mean lung lesion score were significantly higher in M. hyopneumoniae seropositive farms compared to the seronegative ones (p<0.001). Similarly, seropositive sequentially necropsied pigs showed more severe CVPC than seronegative ones. Overall, mean serological values might help to forecast prevalence and severity of EP-like lung lesions using a population based approach. Remarkably, the specific systemic humoral immune response was found to be predominated by the IgG2 subclass, suggesting a dominant Th1-mediated immune response to M. hyopneumoniae.
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.|Boehringer Ingelheim España S.A., Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain.
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Garcia-Morante
authors.affiliation: UAB, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.|Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Segalés
authors.affiliation: Departament de Ciència Animal, ETSEA, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fraile
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Llardén
authors.affiliation: Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Research Center GmbH&Co., Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coll
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3867-1988
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sibila
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056724:Immunity, Humoral / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D008168:Lung / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D045705:Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae / Q000276:immunology; D045729:Pneumonia of Swine, Mycoplasmal / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G