Interleukin-17A pathway target genes are upregulated in Equus caballus supporting limb laminitis

Supporting Limb Laminitis (SLL) is a painful and crippling secondary complication of orthopedic injuries and infections in horses, often resulting in euthanasia. SLL causes structural alterations and inflammation of the interdigitating layers of specialized epidermal and dermal tissues, the lamellae, which suspend the equine distal phalanx from the hoof capsule. Activation of the interleukin-17A (IL-17A)-dependent inflammatory pathway is an epidermal stress response that contributes to physiologic cutaneous wound healing as well as pathological skin conditions. As a first test of the hypothesis that hoof lamellae of horses diagnosed with SLL also respond to stress by activating the IL-17A pathway, the expression of IL-17A, IL-17 receptor subunit A and 11 IL-17A effector genes was measured by RT-PCR or qPCR. Lamellar tissue was isolated from Thoroughbreds euthanized due to naturally occurring SLL and in age and breed matched non-laminitic controls. By RT-PCR, the IL-17 Receptor A subunit was expressed in both non-laminitic and laminitic tissues, while IL-17A was primarily detectable in laminitic tissues. IL-17A target gene expression was undetectable in non-laminitic samples with the exception of weak detection of DEFB4B, S100A9 and PTSG2. In contrast, all target genes examined, except CCL20, were expressed by some or all laminitic samples. By qPCR, severe acute (n = 7) SLL expressed ~15-100 fold higher levels of DEFB4B and S100A9 genes compared to non-laminitic controls (n = 8). DEFB4B was also upregulated in developmental/subclinical (n = 8) and moderate acute (n = 7) by ~ 5-fold, and in severe chronic (n = 5) by ~15-200 fold. In situ hybridization (DEFB4) and immunofluorescence (calprotectin, a dimer of S100A9/S100A8 proteins) demonstrated expression in keratinocytes, primarily in suprabasal cell layers, from SLL samples. These data demonstrate upregulation of a cohort of IL-17A target genes in SLL and support the hypothesis that similarities in the response to stresses and damage exist between equine and human epidermal tissues.