Abstract
In 2006, a new haemorrhagic syndrome affecting newborn calves, Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP), was reported in southern Germany. It is characterized by severe bleeding, destruction of the red bone marrow, and a high case fatality rate. The syndrome is caused by alloreactive, maternal antibodies that are ingested by the calf with colostrum and result from a dam vaccination with one particular vaccine against Bovine-Viral-Diarrhoea-Virus. Because bovine colostrum is increasingly gaining interest as a dietary supplement for human consumption, the current study was initiated to elucidate whether BNP alloantibodies from BNP dams (i.e. animals that gave birth to a BNP-affected calf) cross-react with human cells, which could pose a health hazard for human consumers of colostral products. The present study clearly demonstrates that BNP alloantibodies cross-react with human lymphocytes in vitro. In agreement with previous reports on BNP, the cross-reactive antibodies are specific for MHC-I molecules, and sensitize opsonised human cells for in vitro complement lysis. Cross-reactive antibodies are present in serum and colostrum of individual BNP dams. They can be traced in commercial colostrum powder manufactured from cows immunized with the vaccine associated with BNP, but are absent from commercial powder manufactured from colostrum excluding such vaccinated cows. In humans alloreactive, MHC-I specific antibodies are generally not believed to cause severe symptoms. However, to minimize any theoretical risk for human consumers, manufacturers of bovine colostrum for human consumption should consider using only colostrum from animals that have not been exposed to the vaccine associated with BNP.
Highlights
During the past two decades, bovine colostrum has gained increasing interest as a dietary supplement for human consumption
In accordance with previous observations made in Central Europe [10], we found that Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP) dams had significantly higher levels of alloantibodies than PregSureBVD vaccinated animals giving birth to calves that did not develop BNP, or animals that received an alternative bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) vaccine, or non-vaccinated controls (Fig 1A)
The aim of the current study was to clarify whether cases of bovine neonate haemorrhages in New Zealand were caused by the vaccine induced feto-maternal incompatibility syndrome, BNP
Summary
During the past two decades, bovine colostrum has gained increasing interest as a dietary supplement for human consumption. In 2006 a new hemorrhagic syndrome of bovine neonates, Bovine Neonatal Pancytopenia (BNP) was first observed in Central European countries. The syndrome affects newborn calves and is characterized by a complete destruction of the red bone marrow, pancytopenia, severe bleeding and high lethality. Maternal antibodies via colostrum to a newborn calf carrying the corresponding alloantigens leads to severe pancytopenia [13]. The pathoetiology of BNP is similar to human alloimmune diseases such as the Rhesus-Incompatibility Syndrome or Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (NAIT), except that such diseases involve transfer of alloimmune antibodies to the fetus in utero rather than via breast milk to neonates
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