Journal
VACCINES
Volume 7, Issue 3, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/vaccines7030114
Keywords
alpha-Gal; immune response; dog; tick bite; Ixodes ricinus; pathogens
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Funding
- Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura y Deportes, JCCM, Spain [CCM17-PIC-036 (SBPLY/17/180501/000185)]
- Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha (JCCM, Spain)
- University of Castilla La Mancha, Spain
- frame of ERASMUS + Staff Mobility Training Program [AWIEN04]
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Due to the functional inactivation of the gene encoding for the enzyme that is involved in the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-Gal) synthesis, humans and Old-World primates are able to produce a large amount of antibodies against the glycan epitope. Apart from being involved in the hyperacute organ rejection in humans, anti-alpha-Gal antibodies have shown a protective effect against some pathogenic agents and an implication in the recently recognized tick-induced mammalian meat allergy. Conversely, non-primate mammals, including dogs, have the ability to synthetize alpha-Gal and, thus, their immune system is not expected to naturally generate the antibodies toward this self-antigen molecule. However, in the current study, we detected specific IgG, IgM, and IgE antibodies to alpha-Gal in sera of clinically healthy dogs by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the first time. Furthermore, in a tick infestation experiment, we showed that bites of Ixodes ricinus induce the immune response to alpha-Gal in dogs and that the resulting antibodies (IgM) might be protective against Anaplasma phagocytophilum. These findings may help lead to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in mammalian meat allergy and tick-host-pathogen interactions, but they also open up the question about the possibility that dogs could develop an allergy to mammalian meat after tick bites, similar to that in humans.
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