Associations between Circulating IGF-1 Concentrations, Disease Status and the Leukocyte Transcriptome in Early Lactation Dairy Cows

D Claire Wathes, Frank Becker, Laura Buggiotti, Mark A Crowe, Conrad Ferris , Leslie Foldager, Clément Grelet, Miel Hostens , Klaus L Ingvartsen, Cinzia Marchitelli, Mazdak Salavati, Federica Signorelli, Haruko Takeda, Lijing Tang, Zhangrui Cheng, The GplusE consortium

Research output: Contribution to journalSpecial issuepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

: Peripartum dairy cows commonly experience negative energy balance (EB) and immunosup-pression together with high incidences of infectious and metabolic disease. This study investi-gated mechanisms linking EB status with immune defence in early lactation. Data were collected from multiparous Holstein cows from six herds and leukocyte transcriptomes were analysed using RNA sequencing. Global gene expression was related to circulating IGF-1 (as a biomarker for EB) by subdividing animals into three groups, defined as IGF-1 LOW (<35 ng/ml, n=35), MODERATE (35 – 100 ng/ml, n=92) or HIGH (>100 ng/ml, n=43) at 14±4 days in milk (DIM). Dif-ferentially expressed genes between groups were identified using CLC Genomics Workbench V21, followed by cluster and KEGG pathway analysis, focussing on the comparison between LOW and HIGH IGF-1 cows. LOW cows were older and had significantly lower dry matter in-takes and EB values, whereas HIGH cows produced more milk. During the first 35 DIM, 71% of LOW cows had more than one health problem v 26% HIGH cows, including more with clinical mastitis and uterine infections. Gene expression analysis indicated that leukocytes in LOW cows switched energy metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis (PGM, LDH, PDK4). Many antimicrobial peptides were up-regulated in LOW cows (e.g. PTX3, DMBT1, S100A8, S100A9) together with genes associated with inflammation, platelet activation and the complement cascade. HIGH cows had greater expression of genes regulating T and B cell func-tion and the cytoskeleton. Overall results suggested an ongoing cycle of poor EB and higher in-fection rates in LOW IGF-1 cows which was reflected in altered leukocyte functionality and re-duced milk production.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)147-178
JournalRuminants
Volume1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Nov 2021

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • IGF-1
  • leukocyte
  • energy balance
  • RNA-seq
  • dairy cow
  • antimicrobial
  • inflammation
  • mastitis
  • PTX3
  • DMBT1

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