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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2020

Transcriptomes from German shepherd dogs reveal differences in immune activity between atopic dermatitis affected and control skin

Tengvall, K.; Bergvall, K.; Olsson, M.; Ardesjo-Lundgren, B.; Farias, F. H. G.; Kierczak, M.; Hedhammar, A.; Lindblad-Toh, K.; Andersson, G.

Abstract

Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) is an inflammatory and pruritic allergic skin disease with both genetic and environmental risk factors described. We performed mRNA sequencing of non-lesional axillary skin biopsies from nine German shepherd dogs. Obtained RNA sequences were mapped to the dog genome (CanFam3.1) and a high-quality skin transcriptome was generated with 23,510 expressed gene transcripts. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were defined by comparing three controls to five treated CAD cases. Using a leave-one-out analysis, we identified seven DEGs: five known to encode proteins with functions related to an activated immune system (CD209,CLEC4G,LOC102156842(lipopolysaccharide-binding protein-like),LOC480601(regakine-1-like),LOC479668(haptoglobin-like)), one (OBP) encoding an odorant-binding protein potentially connected to rhinitis, and the last (LOC607095) encoding a novel long non-coding RNA. Furthermore, high mRNA expression of inflammatory genes was found in axillary skin from an untreated mild CAD case compared with healthy skin. In conclusion, we define genes with different expression patterns in CAD case skin helping us understand post-treatment atopic skin. Further studies in larger sample sets are warranted to confirm and to transfer these results into clinical practice.

Keywords

Canine atopic dermatitis; mRNA sequencing; Differential gene expression; Skin transcriptome

Published in

Immunogenetics
2020, volume: 72, number: 5, pages: 315-323
Publisher: SPRINGER

Authors' information

Tengvall, K.
Uppsala University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences
Olsson, M.
Karolinska Institutet
Ardesjö Lundgren, Brita
Uppsala University
Farias, F. H. G.
Washington University (WUSTL)
Kierczak, M.
Uppsala University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Clinical Sciences
Lindblad-Toh, K.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Genetics

Publication Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-020-01169-3

URI (permanent link to this page)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112365