SAIM Resident II Colorado State University FORT COLLINS, Colorado, United States
Abstract:
Background: Little is known regarding nasal immune responses, and how the nasal microbiome may be altered in dogs with chronic rhinitis (CR).
Objectives/Hypothesis: To compare the nasal transcriptome and microbiome in healthy dogs and dogs diagnosed with chronic idiopathic rhinitis, using next gen sequencing approaches. We hypothesized that the nasal transcriptome and microbiome in dogs with CR were significantly different than in healthy dogs.
Animals: Prospective study enrolling 6 dogs with histologically confirmed chronic idiopathic lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis and 6 age-matched healthy dogs.
Methods: Nasal swabs were collected under general anesthesia. For transcriptomic analysis, RNA was extracted from swabs and subjected to full RNA sequencing, using Illumina sequencing with alignment to the CanFam3 database. Sequence files were analyzed using Partek Flow software. To evaluate the nasal microbiome, DNA was extracted from nasal swabs and subjected to 16S sequencing and analyzed using open source software. Correlations between the nasal transcriptome and the nasal microbiome were assessed using Pearson’s correlation analysis.
Results: Pathway analysis of transcriptome data revealed significant upregulation of pathways related to reactive oxygen and STAT3 signaling compared to healthy dogs. Notably absent were pathways related to allergic responses. The microbial composition appeared different in dogs with chronic rhinitis and healthy dogs. We identified significant correlations between certain overexpressed immune genes in dogs with CR and their microbiome phyla.
Conclusion and clinical importance: Marked immunological differences in the nasal transcriptomes of dogs with CR. These findings suggest important interactions between nasal immune responses and the nasal microbiome in dogs with CR.
