Recombinant Fasciola hepatica Fatty Acid Binding Protein as a Novel Anti-Inflammatory Biotherapeutic Drug in an Acute Gram-Negative Nonhuman Primate Sepsis Model

The effect of chronic, non-pathogenic maternal immune activation on offspring postnatal muscle and immune outcomes

The objective was to determine the effects of maternal inflammation on offspring muscle development and postnatal innate immune response. Sixteen first-parity gilts were randomly allotted to repeated intravenous injections with lipopolysaccharide (LPS; n = 8, treatment code INFLAM) or comparable volume of phosphate buffered saline (CON, n = 8). Injections took place every other day from gestational day (GD) 70 to GD 84 with an initial dose of 10 μg LPS/kg body weight (BW) increasing by 12% each time to prevent endotoxin tolerance. On GD 70, 76, and 84, blood was collected at 0 and 4 h postinjection via jugular or ear venipuncture to determine tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1β concentrations. After farrowing, litter mortality was recorded, and the pig closest to litter BW average was used for dissection and muscle fiber characterization. On weaning (postnatal day [PND] 21), pigs were weighed individually and 2 barrows closest to litter BW average were selected for another study. The third barrow closest to litter BW average was selected for the postnatal LPS challenge. On PND 52, pigs were given 5 μg LPS/kg BW via intraperitoneal injection, and blood was collected at 0, 4, and 8 h postinjection to determine TNF-α concentration. INFLAM gilt TNF-α concentration increased (P < 0.01) 4 h postinjection compared to 0 h postinjection, while CON gilt TNF-α concentration did not differ between time points. INFLAM gilt IL-6 and IL-1β concentrations increased (P = 0.03) 4 h postinjection compared to 0 h postinjection on GD 70, but did not differ between time points on GD 76 and 84. There were no differences between INFLAM and CON gilts litter mortality outcomes (P ≥ 0.13), but INFLAM pigs were smaller (P = 0.04) at birth and tended (P = 0.09) to be smaller at weaning. Muscle and organ weights did not differ (P ≥ 0.17) between treatments, with the exception of semitendinosus, which was smaller (P < 0.01) in INFLAM pigs. INFLAM pigs tended (P = 0.06) to have larger type I fibers. INFLAM pig TNF-α concentration did not differ across time, while CON pig TNF-α concentration peaked (P = 0.01) 4 h postinjection. TNF-α concentration did not differ between treatments at 0 and 8 h postinjection, but CON pigs had increased (P = 0.01) TNF-α compared to INFLAM pigs 4 h postinjection. Overall, maternal immune activation did not alter pig muscle development, but resulted in suppressed innate immune activation.

Urinary cytokine measurements do not reflect surgery-induced inflammation in rhesus macaques

Measurement of the health and disease status of free-ranging primates is often limited by a lack of available biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation that can be applied noninvasively via the measurement of urine or fecal samples. Here, we evaluate the potential usefulness of noninvasive urinary measurements of a number of cytokines, chemokines, and other markers of inflammation and infection. We took advantage of surgery-associated inflammation in seven captive rhesus macaques, collecting urine samples before and after the medical interventions. We measured these urine samples for 33 different markers of inflammation and immune activation that are known to be responsive to inflammation and infection in rhesus macaque blood samples, via the Luminex platform. We also measured all samples for concentrations of the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), which we had validated in a prior study as an effective biomarker of inflammation. Despite urine samples being collected in captivity under ideal conditions (clean, no contamination with feces or soil, frozen quickly), 13/33 biomarkers measured via Luminex were found at concentrations below detection limits in >50% of samples. Of the remaining 20 markers, only 2 showed significant increases in response to surgery-IL18 and MPO (myeloperoxidase). However, suPAR measurements of the same samples show a consistent marked increase in response to surgery that is absent from the patterns of IL18 and MPO measurement. Given that our samples were collected under conditions that are greatly preferable to those usually encountered in the field, urinary cytokine measurements via the Luminex platform seem overall unpromising for primate field studies.