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The immune response to the highly acute foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is routinely reported as a measure of serum antibody. However, a critical effector function of immune responses combating viral infection of mammals is the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response mediated by virus specific CD8 expressing T cells. This immune mechanism arrests viral spread by killing virus infected cells before new, mature virus can develop. We have previously shown that infection of swine by FMDV results in a measurable CTL response and have correlated CTL killing of virus-infected cells with specific class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tetramer staining. We also showed that a modified replication defective human adenovirus 5 vector expressing the FMDV structural proteins (Ad5-FMDV-T vaccine) targets the induction of a CD8 + CTL response with a minimal humoral response. In this report, we show that the specificity of the CD8 + T cell response to Ad5-FMDV-T varies between cohorts of genetically identical animals. Further, we demonstrate epitope specificity of CD8 + T cells expands following multiple immunizations with this vaccine., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Langerhans cells (LCs) are resident dendritic cells (DCs) of skin and mucosal epithelium. The standard for identifying skin DCs as LCs is expression of langerin (CD207), a surface protein that mediates Birbeck granule (BG) formation upon internalization. Reports of BGs in porcine skin DC are contradictory, due to lack of langerin detection. Here, we present the sequence of porcine langerin/CD207, showing that the predicted porcine protein shares 75%/86% amino acid identity/similarity with human. Langerin mRNA was detected in porcine skin DCs by PCR and langerin protein was detected in both isolated skin DCs and skin sections by immunostaining. Approximately, 50-70% of skin DCs expressed langerin, demonstrating that the majority of porcine skin DCs are LCs. The full length sequence combined with the identification of antibodies reactive with porcine langerin, facilitates the study of LCs in swine, and advances the use of swine for studying skin diseases and infectious disease processes involving skin.

Dendritic cells (DCs) are a critical aspect of innate immune responses in addition to initiating adaptive immunity. In vitro generation of monocyte derived dendritic cells (MoDC) by culturing cells in IL-4 and granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has been reported for multiple species including swine. However, IL-4 is not a prominent cytokine detected in the periphery of common breeds of swine such as Yorkshire pigs. In this study, we report the generation and characterization of porcine MoDC in vitro using porcine IL-13 and porcine GM-CSF. These cells have the predicted expression of Class II MHC and T cell costimulatory molecules, phagocytic capacity and the ability to process and present antigen. Critically, porcine IL-13/GM-CSF MoDC have the unique ability to stimulate a primary mixed lymphocyte response in vitro. The type I interferon response of these MoDC to poly I:C (TLR3 ligand), LPS (TLR4 ligand) and CpG (TLR9 ligand) was tested. Of these TLR agonists, LPS or CpG did not stimulate induction of type I interferons, but a strong response was observed to poly I:C. This analysis shows that the generation of MoDCs in IL-13 yields cells of equivalent phenotype and function as IL-4 generated DC. However, for swine, in vitro generation of MoDC in IL-13 is likely to induce a more physiological cell population to study given expression of IL-4 is lacking in the periphery of these animals.

Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a picornavirus that causes an acute vesicular disease of cloven-hoofed animals. This virus continues to be a threat to livestock worldwide with outbreaks causing severe economic losses. The present study shows an analysis of immune system phenotype and function during the acute phase of FMDV infection in swine. In the first days of infection, a significant lymphopenia is observed that involves all T cell subsets, CD4(+), CD8(+), and CD4(+)/CD8(+). This marked lymphopenia is not a result of active infection of PBMC with the virus. Further, the response of residual peripheral blood T cells to the mitogen, Concanavalin A (ConA) is significantly reduced and occasionally eliminated. Animals usually resolve clinical signs of disease and develop antigen specific T cell responses to the virus and recover ConA reactivity. These characteristics of acute phase infection likely play an important role in viral pathogenesis, propagation and shedding of viral particles and may be targeted as a way of improving vaccine formulations.

A low-density cell population was isolated from skin explants of pigs and characterized as a highly enriched dendritic cell (DC) population based on phenotypical and functional properties. The skin-derived DCs were identified by their characteristic ultrastructural properties as well as by consistent co-expression of the CD1 and SWC3a antigens that clearly differentiate them from other porcine leukocytes. These cells exhibit higher expression of porcine MHC class II (SLAII) and CD80/86 antigens as compared to macrophage/monocyte cells. They consistently expressed the S100 beta antigen at high levels and did not express the lymphoid markers CD3, CD4 or CD8. Within this population of skin-derived DCs there was variable expression of CD11c, CD14 and CD16. Functional characterization of this DC population revealed that they are efficient in uptake and processing of soluble protein antigens and in endocytosis of small (0.02 microm) but not large (2 microm) polystyrene beads. Further, these cells were efficient inducers of primary allogeneic responses and in stimulating antigen-specific and mitogen-induced proliferation and IFN gamma responses in autologous lymphocytes. This study provides important information to further characterize the cutaneous DCs and develop models to analyze the role of these cells in immune responses in vivo.