Association betweenBoLAand subclinical bovine leukemia virus infection in a herd of Holstein-Friesian cows
✍ Scribed by Harris A. Lewin; Ming-Che Wu; Julie A. Stewart; Timothy J. Nolan
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1988
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 685 KB
- Volume
- 27
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0093-7711
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The role of the bovine major histocompatibility system (BoLA) in subclinical bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection was investigated in a herd of Holstein-Friesian cows (n =240). The BoLA W8.1 allele was negatively associated with the presence of antibodies to the major BLV envelope glycoprotein, BLV-gp51 (corrected P < 0.001, relative risk = 0.31). These results suggest that a BoLA-linked gene(s) may influence the early spread of BLV infection. Since B cells are the primary target of BLV infection, we then determined the relationship between BoLA-A locus phenotypes and B-cell numbers in peripheral blood of seropositive and seronegative cows. There were no significant differences between BoLA-A alleles for any hematological parameter in seronegative cows. Seropositive cows with the W12.1 allele had significantly greater absolute numbers of lymphocytes per microliter and B cells per microliter than did seropositive cows with other BoLA-A phenotypes (P< 0.01, respectively). The average effect associated with the W12.1 allele in BLV-infected cows was an increase of 2010 B cells per microliter of whole blood relative to BLV-infected cows with other BoLA-A phenotypes. These results demonstrate that susceptibility to the polyclonal expansion of BLV-infected B lymphocytes is associated with the W12.1 allele in Holstein-Friesian cattle. Compared with results of a previous study in a herd of Shorthorn cattle, it appears that resistance and susceptibility to subclinical progression of BLV infection are associated with different BoLA-A locus alleles in different cattle breeds.