Work funded by the Home of Rest for Horses has enabled researchers to take the first steps towards developing new anti-viral drug regimes to combat equine herpesvirus-1.
The disease infects horses and ponies worldwide. Its effects range from mild respiratory disease to abortion in pregnant mares or the death of their newborn foals. Some strains also cause neurological disease which can vary from mild incoordination to paralysis.
Non-invasive research undertaken by Doctors Ken Smith, Nick Davis-Poynter and Julia Kidd, of The Animal Health Trust, Newmarket, show that the occurrence of neurological disease depends on a specific mutation of the DNA polymerase enzyme of the virus the first time that a simple laboratory assay has been able to determine the potential impact of infection.
Their work discovered that the mutant virus multiplied more efficiently in white blood cells than the strains which did not cause neurological disease; that this strain was also more able to infect the endothelial cells which line the blood vessels and therefore affect the brain and spinal cord.
The different strains also responded differently to anti-viral drugs, with the non-neuropathogenic strain being more sensitive to aphidicolin.
"This could form the basis of anti-viral therapy regimes for horses with EHV-1 infection," they conclude.
The next stage is to continue the laboratory analysis to study the genetic variations in the different strains of equine herpesvirus-1 and so to identify potential treatment regimes for the neurological form of the disease.
"We are very excited by these groundbreaking results achieved at The Animal Health Trust," said Paul Jepson, chief executive and resident veterinarian at The Home of Rest for Horses. "We are committed to funding non-invasive research into equine ailments and to improving the wellbeing of horses worldwide."
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