An Omics Approach to Transition Cow Immunity
Traditionally, research of transition cow immunity has focused on a reductionist approach trying to pinpoint a single factor that causes periparturient immunosuppression. Both previous and recent research has revealed that this phenomenon has a multifacto
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An Omics Approach to Transition Cow Immunity Emily F. Eckel and Burim N. Ametaj
Abstract
Traditionally, research of transition cow immunity has focused on a reductionist approach trying to pinpoint a single factor that causes periparturient immunosuppression. Both previous and recent research has revealed that this phenomenon has a multifactorial etiology and that our current understanding remains insufficient to properly manage the high disease incidence at this time. In taking a systems biology approach through omics technologies we will be able to develop a fundamental understanding of the causal agents and the mechanisms underlying immunosuppression where preceding technologies have failed. Moreover, these new technologies have the potential to help us develop management techniques to restore the normality of immune response during transition period and lower the increased disease incidence that follows immunosuppression. It should be noted that currently application of omics approaches to transition cow immunity are at their pioneering level and further research is warranted to realize the importance of these sciences in the field of cow health and immunity.
3.1
eductionist Approach to Understanding Immunity R Around Calving
As with many other health issues of transition dairy cows, immunity around calving has mainly been approached by a reductionist view that focuses on finding one single factor that might trigger the well-documented immunosuppression around
E.F. Eckel, Ph.D. (*) • B.N. Ametaj, D.V.M., Ph.D., Ph.D. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2P5 e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017 B.N. Ametaj (ed.), Periparturient Diseases of Dairy Cows, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-43033-1_3
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calving. The bulk of this focus, until recently, has been on the link between nutrition and immunity and how nutritional management techniques can help reduce immune dysfunction. However, as many of these studies have determined, the bulk of immunosuppression cannot be pinned on a single factor. New and interesting findings also confirm the multifactorial nature of periparturient immunosuppression while conflicting classical views on its etiology. In this chapter we will discuss the contribution that has been made by the reductionist approach and outline the need for a more complex method to study immunosuppression. We will additionally summarize what the omics sciences have contributed so far to a better understanding of immunosuppression.
3.2
Basic Concepts of Immunology
In order to understand the physiological changes occurring around calving that contribute to immunosuppression it is important that we first understand how the immune system functions normally. Immunity is the body’s natural defense against pathogens and immune responses can be generally separated into two categories, innate and adaptive, although these do not function independ
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