Immune complex glomerulonephritis of suspected iatrogenic origin in five Japanese Black calves

BERNIER GOSSELIN, Véronique; KIM, Dae Y.; NAGY, Dusty W.; SHOEMAKE, Brian M.; SHAW, Daniel P.; ROYAL, Angela B.; EVANS, Tim J.; MIDDLETON, John R.

It is hypothesized that the combination of 1) passively administered antibodies in colostrum given at birth from cows vaccinated with a S. Typhimurium-based core antigen vaccine, 2) administration of hyperimmune serum containing antibodies to S. Typhimurium subcutaneously within 24 hr of birth, and 3) active immunization of the calves at 7 and 28 days of age with the same S. Typhimurium-based core antigen vaccine administered to their dams likely caused a very high concentration of antigen-antibody complexes, which were deposited in the glomeruli resulting in MPGN. Antigen-antibody complexes could also have resulted from a combination of colostral antibodies and immunization against IBR and PI-3; however this vaccine was administered only once making the theory of excess antibody-antigen less likely than for S. Typhimurium. Recent studies have described calves' responses to vaccination against respiratory pathogens as early as 2 to 4 weeks of age in the face of maternal antibodies and no adverse effects associated with vaccination were reported [4, 5, 13] . On the other hand, glomerulonephritis was reported following vaccination against M. mycoides subsp. mycoides, with the difference being that antibodies and antigens resulted from active immunization and challenge with M. mycoides subsp. mycoides, respectively [7] . Notably, in the cases reported herein, the same S. Typhimurium-based core antigen vaccine was used to vaccinate the dams and the calves and likely resulted in colostral antibodies highly specific for the same vaccine antigen administered to the calves. The calves also received an injectable anti-sera which contained antibodies to S. Typhimurium. The peak occurrence of disease was shortly after the second dose of the core antigen vaccine (Table 1) . Persistent antigenemia from natural exposure to a pathogen can cause MPGN, but no common pathogen was identified in the necropsied calves. The IHC for S. Typhimurium antigen in the glomerulus was negative, which, as explained above, is not unexpected. In hindsight, serology on some or all of the calves to quantify antibodies to S. Typhimurium in circulation doi: 10.1292/jvms.17-0544 could have also been performed to at least demonstrate antibody acquisition from colostrum or the hyperimmune serum. However, even if detected it would not have definitively proven that the immune complexes were S. Typhimurium in origin.