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Sara Wernersson
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry (AFB); Division of Anatomy and Physiology
Telephone: 018-672112
E-mail: sara.wernersson@slu.se
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Identification of a Dominant Mucosal Mast Cell Population with Possible Inflammatory Functions in Airways of Asthmatic Horses
Last changed: 31 May 2023
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease and a serious health problem in horses as well as in humans. In humans and mice, mast cells (MCs) are known to be directly involved in asthma pathology and subtypes of MCs accumulate in different lung and airway compartments. The role and phenotype of MCs in equine asthma has not been well documented, although an accumulation of MCs in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) is frequently seen.
To characterize the phenotype of airway MCs in equine asthma researchers from SLU here developed a protocol, based on MACS Tyto sorting, resulting in the isolation of 92.9% pure MCs from horse BALF. They then used quantitative transcriptome analyses to determine the gene expression profile of the purified MCs compared with total BALF cells.
The researchers found that the MCs exhibited a protease profile typical for the classical mucosal MC subtype, as demonstrated by the expression of tryptase (TPSB2) alone, with no expression of chymase (CMA1) or carboxypeptidase A3 (CPA3). Moreover, the expression of genes involved in antigen presentation and complement activation strongly implicates an inflammatory role for these MCs.
This study provides a first insight into the phenotype of equine MCs in BALF and their potential role in the airways of asthmatic horses.
Link to the publication
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232213976
Reference
Akula, S.; Riihimäki, M.; Waern, I.; Åbrink, M.; Raine, A.; Hellman, L.; Wernersson, S. Quantitative Transcriptome Analysis of Purified Equine Mast Cells Identifies a Dominant Mucosal Mast Cell Population with Possible Inflammatory Functions in Airways of Asthmatic Horses. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23, 13976.