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Reduce transmission of foodborne pathogens and prevent infections in pigs as a means to improve overall swine health: <OL> <LI> Develop reagents and assays to define cytokine-regulated immune mechanisms. <LI> Determine if parasite-induced polarization of swine immunity affects pig health and susceptibility to zoonotic agents.<LI> Assess development of mucosal immune response & the effect of neonatal pig health and transmission of foodborne and respiratory pathogens using state-of-the-art methods and cDNA microarray technology.
Approach: Test whether immune responses in pigs are polarized: immediate type hypersensitivity at one pole and cellular immunity on the other that regulate pathogen responses. Extremes in response pattern evoke cytokines that are inherently counter-regulatory. Intracellular parasitic infections, e.g. with Toxoplasma gondii, would be expected to drive strong T cell helper 1 (Th1) responses whereas Ascaris suum and Trichuris suis would push toward Th2 responses.<P> The project is fundamental in its description of basic immunity at mucosal surfaces in neonatal and mature pigs. It addresses the major current respiratory infections of pigs, PRRSV, PCV2, and Mycoplasma. It is technology driven in its description of new reagents for characterization of the pig immune system, and the use of analytical tools that have never been applied to large animal infectious diseases. This knowledge of mucosal immunology, along with the analytical tools generated, will enable researchers to develop new methods to control infectious diseases in the swine host and to identify pigs which would likely be more disease resistant.