The Irish government is funding a tripartite collaboration to research the role of vitamin D in bovine TB

The Irish government is funding a tripartite collaboration to research the role of vitamin D in bovine TB

The Irish Government has funded a tripartite collaboration to investigate the role of vitamin D in bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The project was funded by the Higher Education Authority as part of the Shared Island initiative, which aims to build new north-south partnerships in strategically important challenge areas for society across the island of Ireland.

The EU, UK and Ireland's bTB eradication targets cannot be achieved without increased focus on the causes of recurrent TB on farms. Across the island of Ireland, it is estimated that TB-infected herds have a 30-40% chance of collapsing again within three years due to a relapse of infection.

Three research teams led by Dr. Kieran Meade from University College Dublin (UCD) in collaboration with Dr. Tom Ford from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) and Professor Ilias Kyriazakis from the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Belfast, have teamed up to investigate how circulating vitamin D levels influence immune response and disease progression on farms can influence bTB flare-ups.

Dr. Kieran Meade, based at the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, said: "Several studies now point to an animal-specific problem that prevents current diagnostic tests from identifying all truly infected cattle, and these cattle serve as a reservoir for stubborn The wealth of evidence from the human literature and our exciting preliminary data suggests that the Vitamin D status will have a critical impact on the immunity of livestock against diseases including TB.”

The study of immune function and the role that vitamin D can play in its modulation is an important basic science. With support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the teams aim to identify host factors that contribute to the re-emergence of infections in specific cattle or herds, and this new knowledge can complement national TB eradication strategies in the north and south.

This project provides an exciting opportunity to better understand the fundamental function of the bovine immune system, how it responds to the bacterium that causes bovine tuberculosis, and whether vitamin D influences immunological outcomes – from disease resistance to diagnostics.”

Dr. AFBI's Tom Ford

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To date, no study has comprehensively characterized the host immune response in cattle from herds with recurrent TB infection.

Queen's Professor Ilias Kyriazakis, who has a background in veterinary medicine, said: "Queen's has previously linked the vitamin D status of farm animals to their immune response to a variety of pathogens, and this exciting collaboration provides us with the opportunity to build on our previous research."

The project funding is a first step towards developing a Center for Immunology, bringing together expertise in nutrition, immunology and livestock management to enable an island-wide approach to: assess the extent of Vitamin D Insufficiency (VDI) in herds across the island; and determining the association between VD status and immune responses to mycobacterial antigens.

Additionally, the construction of a new center focused on bovine immunology on the shared island will promote increased collaboration and bring a wealth of collaborative expertise to address knowledge gaps and develop improved controls for multiple livestock diseases.

Source:

UCD Research and Innovation

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