Data from immunoloigcal testing of Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and Dauphin Island, Alabama common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

The goal of this study is to build upon a previous validation of assays and reagents to identify T helper cell subsets and elucidate their functions in a group of dolphins from Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA. In addition, we wanted to test several immune functions in dolphins from Barataria Bay, LA and Dauphin Island, AL. In order to identify dolphin Treg cells, we used antibodies to CD4 and FOXP3. In order to determine the functionality of dolphin Treg cells, used porcine reagents to measure TGFß, the major Treg effector cytokine. In order to assess the capacity of dolphin Th cell subsets to respond to a Th1, Th2 or Treg stimulus, we tested the relative expression of effector cytokines upon in vitro stimulation with human recombinant cytokines. To understand the balance of cytokines in wild dolphins, we measured serum concentrations of 12 cytokines including the Th1 cytokines IL-2, IL-12 and IFNγ, the Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13, the Treg cytokines IL-10 and TGFß, and the inflammatory cytokines IL-1ß, IL-8, TNFα and GM-CSF, in 34 wild Barataria Bay dolphins and 17 wild Dauphin Island dolphins.