Expression profiling of cytokine genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Anaplasma marginale infected and healthy cattle

Abstract

In this study, changes in expression profiles of genes encoding 14 cytokines (IL1A, IL1B, IL2, IL4, IL6, IL8, IL10, IL12A, IL12B, IL16, IFNA, IFNB, TGFB1, and TNFA) were investigated amongst six Anaplasma marginale infected and six healthy crossbred cattle. Health status of the animals was determined based on clinical signs, blood smear examination and molecular detection using A. marginale-specific primers. Total RNA was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the infected animals as well as the healthy controls, which was further reverse transcribed to cDNA. Primers for real time PCR were designed using Primer3 software and the results were analyzed by the 2^–ΔΔCt method with RPS15 and GAPDH as the reference genes. The expression levels of IL1A, IL1B, IL6, IL10, IL12A, IL12B, and TNFA varied significantly between the two groups, with higher expression in the infected cattle. The transcript abundance of IL4, IL16, and TGFB1 did not vary between the diseased and healthy animals. The expression of IL2 and IL8 was higher in the healthy animals, but the results were non-significant. Taken together, this study provides evidence for difference in expression of cytokine genes in response to anaplasmosis in crossbred cattle.

Keywords:

• Cattle
• anaplasmosis
• cytokine
• expression
• immunity

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Director, ICAR- National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal, and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi for providing the necessary facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the ICAR-Consortium Research Platform - Genomics (Animal Science).