As a recognized Mycobacterium bovis maintenance host, the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) poses transmission risks to livestock, humans and other wildlife. Early detection of M. bovis infection is critical for limiting its spread. Currently, tests detecting cell-mediated immune responses are used for diagnosis in buffaloes. However, these may have suboptimal sensitivity or specificity, depending on the blood stimulation method. Recent evidence suggests that assays using combinations of host cytokine biomarkers may increase diagnostic performance. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the application of a MILLIPLEX_® bovine cytokine/chemokine multiplex assay to identify candidate biomarkers of M. bovis infection in buffaloes. Whole blood from twelve culture-confirmed M. bovis-infected buffaloes, stimulated with the QuantiFERON_® TB Gold Plus in-tube system, was tested using the MILLIPLEX_® platform. Results indicated binding of bovine antibodies to fifteen buffalo cytokine/chemokine targets. Moreover, there was a significant difference in concentrations between unstimulated and TB antigen-stimulated buffalo samples for seven cytokines/chemokines included in the kit. Although these preliminary results require further investigation in larger sample sets and a comparison between M. bovis-infected and uninfected cohorts, the utility of the MILLIPLEX_® platform in a novel species was demonstrated, in addition to identifying potential African buffalo cytokines for future research.

作为公认的牛分枝杆菌维持宿主，非洲水牛（Syncerus caffer）对牲畜，人类和其他野生生物构成传播风险。尽早发现牛分枝杆菌感染对于限制其传播至关重要。当前，检测细胞介导的免疫反应的测试被用于水牛的诊断。但是，根据血液刺激方法的不同，它们的灵敏度或特异性可能欠佳。最近的证据表明，结合使用宿主细胞因子生物标志物的检测方法可能会提高诊断性能。因此，本研究的目的是调查的应用MILLIPLEX _®牛细胞因子/趋化因子多重测定，以确定的候选生物标志物牛枝原体水牛感染。从12培养证实全血M. bovis-感染的水牛，刺激用的QuantiFERON _® TB金加管系统，采用MILLIPLEX测试_®平台。结果表明牛抗体与十五个水牛细胞因子/趋化因子靶标结合。此外，试剂盒中包含的七种细胞因子/趋化因子在未刺激和TB抗原刺激的水牛样品之间的浓度存在显着差异。虽然这些初步结果需要进一步调查在较大的样品组和之间的比较牛分枝杆菌感染的和未感染的组群，该MILLIPLEX的效用_® 除了确定潜在的非洲水牛细胞因子以供将来研究外，还展示了一种新型物种的生物信息平台。