Changes In Acute Phase Protein Levels Research Articles

Effects of Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccination on serum α1-acid glycoprotein concentrations in commercial layer chickens

Increases in circulating acute phase protein (APP) levels occur in reaction to systemic infections in animals. However, no previous research has been conducted to monitor possible changes in APP levels of birds in response to prelay vaccinations of various live attenuated Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccines in conjunction with their subsequent use as an overlay vaccine during the production period. Serum concentrations of the APP, α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), were determined on d 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 after subjecting commercial laying hens to one of the following treatments at 10 wk of age (woa): 1) control (no vaccination); 2) ts-11 strain M.gallisepticum (ts11MG) vaccination; 3) M.gallisepticum-bacterin (MGBac) vaccination; and 4) ts11MG and MGBac combination (ts11MG & MGBac) vaccination. Furthermore, at 45 woa, the birds in half of the units assigned to each treatment group were vaccinated with high-passage F-strain M.gallisepticum (HpFMG). Birds in treatment 1 that were (single control) and were not (double control) vaccinated with HpFMG, and birds in treatments 2, 3, and 4 that were vaccinated with HpFMG were further tested during lay on d 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 after vaccination. On d 7, 14, and 28 postvaccination at 10 woa, the ts11MG & MGBac, ts11MG, and MGBac group AGP concentrations were not different from one another, but all were higher than those in the control group. Similarly, on d 3, 7, and 14 postvaccination, the single control, and the MGBac ts11MG, and ts11MG & MGBac treatment groups that were later vaccinated with HpFMG at 45 woa, were not different, but all were higher than that in the double control group. In conclusion, elevated circulation AGP concentrations may be used to detect and confirm subclinical infections in pullets up to 28 d after having been vaccinated with ts11MG, MGBac, or their combination. Furthermore, in association with depressed performance, elevated serum AGP concentrations in layers may be used to confirm HpFMG infections up to 28 d after its use as a vaccine.

Liver proteins as sensor of human malignancies and inflammation

In this review we would like to highlight the importance of acute-phase proteins as sensor of diseases. Both acute-phase protein levels and glycosylation have been reported to be altered in inflammation and other diseases including cancer. Factors that promote acute-phase protein synthesis and enhance the expression of specific glycosyltransferases, such as sialyltransferases and fucosyltransferases, may be up-regulated in some tumours and would explain the changes in acute-phase protein levels and the specific N-glycosylation modifications of some acute-phase proteins in cancer. However, further studies are required to define the potential clinical application of these acute-phase protein cancer-specific modifications as possible cancer diagnostic or monitoring tools.

Proteins of rat serum: III. Gender-related differences in protein concentration under baseline conditions and upon experimental inflammation as evaluated by two-dimensional electrophoresis.

We have previously described the major components of rat serum (Electrophoresis 1998, 19, 1484-1492 and 1493-1500). In this report we examine sex-related differences in protein concentrations, both in control animals and upon experimentally induced inflammation. Under baseline conditions approximately one third of the spots resolved in serum by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) are expressed at levels > or =25% higher in female rats than in male rats and a further 10% at levels > or =25% lower. Inflammation increases the expression of the positive acute-phase reactants: hemopexin, ceruloplasmin, alpha1-antitrypsin (all approximately 2-fold), C-reactive protein (3- to 5-fold), serine protease inhibitor-3 (4- to 5-fold), thiostatin (> 5-fold in females, >20-fold in males), clusterin, orosomucoid, haptoglobin chains and alpha2-macroglobulin. The baseline level of the last four markers is below the detection limit, hence no percent increase can be computed. Conversely, negative acute-phase reactants are reduced on inflammation: alpha1-inhibitor III, alpha2-HS-glycoprotein, kallikrein-binding protein and transthyretin (all reduced to between 1/2 to 1/3 of the baseline levels), retinol-binding protein (to about 1/2 to 1/4) and albumin (to 2/3). Except for thiostatin, the changes in acute-phase protein levels are similar in male and female rats.