AUTHOR=Bossart Gregory D. , Romano Tracy A. , Peden-Adams Margie M. , Schaefer Adam M. , Rice Charles D. , Fair Patricia A. , Reif John S. 

TITLE=Comparative Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses in Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) With Viral, Bacterial, and Fungal Infections

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2019.01125

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2019.01125

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<p>Free-ranging Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (<italic>n</italic> = 360) from two southeastern U.S. estuarine sites were given comprehensive health examinations between 2003 and 2015 as part of a multi-disciplinary research project focused on individual and population health. The study sites (and sample sizes) included the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), Florida, USA (<italic>n</italic> = 246) and Charleston harbor and associated rivers (CHS), South Carolina, USA (<italic>n</italic> = 114). Results of a suite of clinicoimmunopathologic tests revealed that both populations have a high prevalence of infectious and neoplastic disease and a variety of abnormalities of their innate and adaptive immune systems. Subclinical infections with cetacean morbillivirus and <italic>Chlamydiaceae</italic> were detected serologically. Clinical evidence of orogenital papillomatosis was supported by the detection of a new strain of dolphin papillomavirus and herpesvirus by molecular pathology. Dolphins with cutaneous lobomycosis/lacaziasis were subsequently shown to be infected with a novel, uncultivated strain of <italic>Paracoccidioides brasiliensis</italic>, now established as the etiologic agent of this enigmatic disease in dolphins. In this review, innate and adaptive immunologic responses are compared between healthy dolphins and those with clinical and/or immunopathologic evidence of infection with these specific viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens. A wide range of immunologic host responses was associated with each pathogen, reflecting the dynamic and complex interplay between the innate, humoral, and cell-mediated immune systems in the dolphin. Collectively, these studies document the comparative innate and adaptive immune responses to various types of infectious diseases in free-ranging Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Evaluation of the type, pattern, and degree of immunologic response to these pathogens provides novel insight on disease immunopathogenesis in this species and as a comparative model. Importantly, the data suggest that in some cases infection may be associated with subclinical immunopathologic perturbations that could impact overall individual and population health.</p>