The Role of Interferon Gamma in Foals

Reduced interferon-gamma production is associated with increased risk for intracellular bacterial infections.
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Researchers at the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Center recently linked a foal’s environment with its ability to produce interferon gamma, a key protein in immune response. Interferon-gamma is important to foals because reduced production of it is associated with an increased risk for intracellular bacterial infections, such as pneumonia caused by the bacterium Rhodococcus equi.

In humans, exposure to microbial antigens in the environment affects interferon-gamma production through the stimulation of white blood cells (lymphocytes). The Gluck Center researchers examined whether the same process occurs in foals.

“In this study we determined the effect of the foal’s environment on its ability to produce interferon-gamma early in life,” said David Horohov, PhD, Jes E. and Clementine M. Schlaikjer Endowed Chair and professor at the Gluck Center.

The research was part of the dissertation project performed by Lingshuang Sun, PhD, while she was a graduate student in Horohov’s laboratory. Horohov’s team had previously found newborn foals are born with a limited capacity to produce interferon-gamma and that production increases after birth. Because interferon-gamma is a key cytokine in the immune response to R. equi, this could explain why adult horses are resistant to this bacterium whereas foals are uniquely susceptible. Increasing interferon-gamma production in foals could prevent mortality and financial losses due to R. equi infections, Horohov said

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