Biomarkers of Immunopathology in Veterinary Medicine

Biomarkers are the biological molecules or characteristics, which can be distinctively and consistently assessed as an indication of normal physiological, pathobiological, or pharmacodynamic processes. Specific cells of the innate immune system, receptors for microbial ligands, antimicrobial molecules, and inflammatory mediators are the potential biomarkers of immunopathology, which are frequently employed for biological research, disease diagnosis, and monitoring as well as therapeutic prognostication in veterinary medicine. Immune cells and some parenchymal cells of the body are expressing a group of receptor molecules targeting specific epitopes on various pathogenic organisms are called as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and the corresponding target epitopes are termed as pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). PRRs act as a first line of defence against invasion of pathogens and they trigger both innate and adaptive immune responses. TLRs play an important role in recognizing microbes and in triggering inflammation. Cytokines are small secreted proteins released by cells, which have a specific effect on the interactions and communications between cells. Interleukins are a type of cytokines that was once considered to be produced only by leukocytes, but has now been discovered to be produced by a variety of different body cells. Chemokines are a broad class of small secreted proteins that signal through G protein-coupled heptahelical chemokine receptors on cell surfaces. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are essential components of the innate immune system in humans, animals, and plants, and they serve as the first line of defence against foreign invaders. This book chapter extensively discusses about the different biomarkers and their role in the evaluation of health status, risk, diagnosis, prognosis, progression of disease, and to predict and monitor the response to therapy.