Immunomodulatory Effects of Bacterial Toll-like Receptor Ligands on the Phenotype and Function of Milk Immune Cells in Dromedary Camel

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Mastitis is one of the most challenging diseases of dairy animals, with a high impact on animal production and welfare. The development of mastitis vaccines requires deep understanding of host–pathogen interaction mechanisms in the mammary gland. In the present study, we investigated the immunomodulatory effect of selected Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands, representing gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial mastitis pathogens, on the phenotype and function of milk immune cells in a whole milk stimulation assay. The analysis of stimulation-induced shape change, change in the expression of cell surface markers, phagocytosis, apoptosis, ROS production, and NETosis revealed selective modulating effects of the TLR ligands LPS and Pam3CSK4 on camel milk immune cells. These results may have implications for the use of synthetic TLR agonists as immunomodulatory adjuvants of the immune response to intra-mammary vaccines against mastitis pathogens. ABSTRACT: (1) Toll-like receptors (TLR) are a family of pattern recognition receptors that sense distinct molecular patterns of microbial origin. Although the immune cell composition of camel milk has been recently described, host–pathogen interaction studies in the camel mammary gland are still scarce. The present study aimed to use a whole milk stimulation assay for investigating the modulatory effect of selected Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands on the phenotype and function of milk immune cells. (2) Methods—camel milk samples (n = 7) were stimulated in vitro with the TLR4 ligand LPS or the TLR2/1 ligand Pam3CSK4, and separated milk cells were evaluated for stimulation-induced shape change, the expression of cell surface markers, phagocytosis, apoptosis, ROS production, and NETosis. Stimulation with PMA was used as a control stimulation. (3) Results—all stimulants induced shape change in milk cells, change in the expression of several cell markers, and increased cell apoptosis and NETosis. In addition, stimulation with Pam3CSK4 and PMA was associated with enhanced ROS production, while only PMA stimulation resulted in enhanced bacterial phagocytosis by milk immune cells. (4) Conclusions—our data indicates selective modulating effects of the TLR ligands LPS and Pam3CSK4 on camel milk phagocytes. These results may have implications for the use of synthetic TLR agonists as immunomodulatory adjuvants of the immune response to intra-mammary vaccines against mastitis pathogens.