Identification of intra-mammary infection in different goat breeds in Egypt using novel protein and gene biomarkers

Project leaders

Chiara D'ambrosio, Hany Hussein

Agreement

EGITTO - NRC - National Research Centre of Egypt

Call

CNR-NRC 2016-2017

Department

Biology, agriculture and food sciences

Thematic area

Biology, agriculture and food sciences

Status of the project

New

Report for renewal

cvd-ambrosio-en-eur.pdf

Research proposal

Interest in dairy goats and goat milk products increased with the demand for health food, because nutritional qualities of goat milk is similar to human milk but goat milk is less allergenic for human consumption than bovine milk. In the Mediterranean area, dairy goats are of major economic importance as they produce 18 % of total milk production from dairy goats, dairy sheep, dairy buffaloes and dairy cattle.
In Egypt, for up to 6000 years, Egyptians have ranched goats and sheep and consumed their milk.
Mastitis continues to gather attention in veterinary research due to its negative impact on animal welfare, productivity performances and then economical losses to the dairy industry. In dairy goats, mastitis represents an important economic problem because it reduces milk yield, modifies its composition, and could spread infection among animals, herds, and consumers. Therefore, detection and a prompt therapeutic strategy of mastitis would be helpful also for milk production and reproductive efficiency.
There are several methods for diagnosing mastitis, as bacteriologic culture, which it is expensive and time-consuming and is not efficient for routine screening. Also, indirect measurements as somatic cell count (SCC) and California Mastitis Test (CMT).
Unfortunately, recent studies demonstrated that bacteriological culture as well as CMT or SCC are imperfect tests for intramammary infection (IMI). This creates an urgent need for new putative biomarkers, more sensitive and specific for infected animals.
As mastitis is an inflammatory reaction influences milk composition/quality in several ways, and milk proteome is consequently modified. Recently, proteomic profiling strategy based on Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI-TOF-MS) are developed to analyze protein and peptides in biological fluids.
The scope of this project is based on detection of quantitative differences in the proteome of milk as well as serum samples from healthy does and diseased animals (both clinical and subclinical) caused by different bacterial pathogens by MALDI-TOF-MS profiling, that might increase our understanding of immune response of mammary gland, to identify protein biomarkers specific for mammary gland infection, either in milk or serum, in a trial to promote indicators for the early stages of IMI. Also, we are targeting discovery and characterization of pathogen associated proteome pattern of milk and serum in mastitis.
In this study, IMI will be identified by physical examination, CMT, SCC, and bacteriological identification. Animals will be grouped into healthy, clinical mastitis and subclinical mastitis groups. The analysis of proteomes will be done using MALDI-TOF-MS on milk and serum samples from each group. Single and multiplex PCR will be applied using universal and specific primers.
This investigation will lead to an efficient, non invasive, stressless test for mastitis diagnosis. Finally, we will obtain a reliable diagnostic test for clinical and subclinical mastitis for Egyptian goats that will reinforce the control of the disease, with positive benefits on animal wellness and human health in whole Mediterranean area.
This project will establish a fruitful scientific collaboration between Italy and Egypt in diary and veterinary research.

Research goals

The aims of the present study are:-
1. Estimation of the prevalence of mastitis (both clinical and subclinical) in Egyptian dairy goats in the selected governorates.
2. Identification of the major bacterial causes of mastitis in Egyptian dairy goats.
3. Highlighting significant differences in milk and serum proteome between the three categories of animals (healthy, clinical mastitis, and subclinical mastitis), and modifications related to the defense response of the mammary gland to different pathogens
4. Identification of putative biomarkers useful for the monitoring of goat mammary metabolism and for the careful management of mastitis.
5. Application of this identified biomarker on the level of milk tank for the early diagnosis of clinical or subclinical affection.
6. Application of the genetic markers on the diagnosis of mastitis.
7. Investigating the correlation between the proteomic and genetic markers regarding the
diagnosis stage and the type of the pathogen.

Finally, the main scope of this bilateral project is to support the development of scientific and technological cooperation between Egyptian and Italian researchers and to strengthen the scientific partnership between research groups from both countries by establishing bilateral research-networks, enhancing research cooperation and promoting the exchange of knowledge between Egyptian and Italian scientists.

Last update: 07/06/2025