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Long-Term Immunocastration Protocols Successfully Reduce Testicles' Size in Bisaro Pigs.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to find a suitable immunocastration protocol for male Bísaro pigs (BP) due to the breed and production system particularities. Twenty-five male BP were treated with Improvac® according to three protocols: using two (GrpE2 and L2) or three vaccinations (GrpL3) and starting at 9 (GrpE2) or 13 weeks old (GrpL2 and L3). Eleven animals were kept as intact males (GrpC). Scrotal measurements and the morphometry of the testes and epididymides collected at slaughter were used to survey the effectiveness of the immunocastration compared with the age-matched intact controls. Animals in groups E2 and L3 were kept until 57 weeks, after a second vaccination cycle at 49 and 53 weeks of age. Scrotal dimensions decreased to almost initial values in treated animals until 17 (GrpE2) and 21 weeks (GrpL2 and L3), thereafter increasing to post-pubertal values until around 29 or 37 weeks of age for groups E2 and L2, respectively, but only at 41 weeks in group L3. Between 41 and 49 weeks, scrotal dimensions were similar in treated and control animals, decreasing to the predicted pre-puberty size after the second cycle of vaccination. This study suggests the most suited protocol for males slaughtered at older ages includes three administrations of Improvac® starting at 3 months of age, followed by a second vaccination cycle.

SUBMITTER: Paixao G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7997316 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Long-Term Immunocastration Protocols Successfully Reduce Testicles' Size in Bísaro Pigs.

Paixão Gustavo G Fontela Sofia Botelho SB Marques Jorge J Esteves Alexandra A Charneca Rui R Payan-Carreira Rita R

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20210227 3

This study aimed to find a suitable immunocastration protocol for male Bísaro pigs (BP) due to the breed and production system particularities. Twenty-five male BP were treated with Improvac<sup>®</sup> according to three protocols: using two (GrpE2 and L2) or three vaccinations (GrpL3) and starting at 9 (GrpE2) or 13 weeks old (GrpL2 and L3). Eleven animals were kept as intact males (GrpC). Scrotal measurements and the morphometry of the testes and epididymides collected at slaughter were used ...[more]

PMID: 33673476

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Project description:Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has the potency of suppressing systemic viral replication and spread. Still, persistent human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) survive for decades during treatment in latently infected cells, making up the latent viral reservoir. This reservoir is believed to reside in subtypes of memory T cells and cell from monocytic lineages, but some functional and naïve T cells have also shown to carry latent HIV. Eradication of latently infected cells, in terms of a sterilizing cure, have proven to be a hurdle since there is a heterogeneity in mechanisms governing latency and integration site into the genome. Over the course of suppressive therapy, persisting HIV, sustained by low levels of viral replication, homeostatic proliferation, and cell to cell transmission, is a driver of chronic immune activation in the body. For the immune system to elicit an appropriate inflammatory response it is dependent on secretion of inflammatory molecules, such as chemokines and cytokines. Most chemokines are pro-inflammatory factors that facilitate leukocyte recruitment to site of inflammation where they can exert their regulatory role in response to pathological and physiological stressors e.g., infection, inflammation, and tissue damage. Alterations in chemokine receptor expression and chemokine levels modulates the activity of the immune response and in HIV infection contribute to chronic inflammation and mortality. Therefore, people living with HIV on suppressive therapy (PLWH) are at higher risk of age associated co-morbidities due to elevated immune activation and chronic inflammation induced by ART toxicities, microbiome dysbiosis leading to microbial translocation and dysregulated immune cell activation and function. As a result, the causative HIV pathogenesis and immune dysfunction further chronic immune activation. This result in a vicious cycle as immune activation is driver of HIV disease progression and inflammaeging leading to earlier onset of age-related diseases. An alternative approach in cure strategies is a functional cure for HIV aiming at suppressing viral replication without ART. A model for functional cure studies are elite controllers (EC). EC constitute a small fraction of HIV+ individuals (<0.5%) exhibiting the unique characteristic of natural control of viral replication in absence of ART. However, there is a population-based heterogeneity of how these individuals naturally supress viral replication. This heterogeneity is caused by viral genetic factors, variability of integration site in the human genome, together with host response against the pathogen and immunological factors. In terms of immune cell activation, studies have shown how EC maintain lower levels of inflammatory markers compared to PLWH. Contradictory, some studies have shown elevated inflammatory markers in EC which could be attributed to the heterogeneity of the EC group or as others have shown it is a consequence of loss of spontaneous control of HIV. Therefore, as no consensus exist further studies comparing variability of immune function between EC and ART can aid in understanding the mechanisms of natural control of HIV. In our recent study (Sperk et al 2021, iScience) we hypothesised that modulated CCR6/CCL20 chemokine axis and CCR2-CCL7-CCL2 signalling can play a protective role in the EC phenotype. Downregulation of CCR2 and CCR6 receptors in lymphocytes and higher plasma abundance of CCL4, CCL7 and CCL20 in EC compared to the HIV-negative controls can provide natural resistance to HIV-infection. In the present study, we further extended our analysis to evaluate the expression profile dynamics of key chemokine receptors, CCR2, CCR3, CCR5 and CCR6, in successfully treated PLWH. We compared well treated PLWH with HIV-1 elite controllers and its association with HIV-1 persistence. Furthermore, cell populations of interest were isolated for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) based untargeted proteomics analysis to evaluate specific characteristics regulating these cell populations and their role in HIV persistence. Our study provides important understanding of the chemokine receptor dynamics and its role in HIV persistence that differentiate elite controllers from long term treated PLWH.

Dataset Information

Long-Term Immunocastration Protocols Successfully Reduce Testicles' Size in Bisaro Pigs.

Publications

Long-Term Immunocastration Protocols Successfully Reduce Testicles' Size in Bísaro Pigs.

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