Data from immunoloigcal laboratory technique development using common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) samples from the Sarasota Bay, Florida

Considerable efforts have been made to better understand the immune system of bottlenose dolphins in view of the common environmental challenges they encounter, such as exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, oil spills or harmful algal bloom biotoxins. However, little is known about the identity and functionality of the Th1, Th2 and Treg T helper cell subsets in bottlenose dolphins. The present study aimed at validating assays and reagents to identify T helper cell subsets and their functions in a subset of dolphins from Sarasota Bay, Florida, USA, which have been long studied and often used as a reference population. In order to identify dolphin Treg cells, we tested a battery of antibodies to CD4, CD25 and FOXP3. In order to determine the functionality of dolphin Treg cells, we validated the use of human and porcine reagents to measure TGFß, the major Treg effector cytokine. In order to assess if the proportion of peripheral blood FOXP3+ dolphin lymphocytes were representative of Treg function we compared the number of FOXP3+ lymphocytes with the levels of serum TGFß and IL-10, the two major Treg effector cytokines, in each dolphin. 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 20 wild Sarasota dolphins.

This dataset contains information related to the percentage of total cells gated during flow cytometry based on antibody labeling, and the relative fluorescence from cells which have been labeled with different quantities of antibody A and B. It also includes the data about the various treatments of cells, various forms of Lymphocyte proliferation brought about by differing culturing conditions and Cytokine levels in pg/ml, and the information on Dolphin lymphocytes treated with cytokines associated with either a Th1, Th2, or Treg stimulus. Th1 = IL‌-12 and IFNy. Th2 = IL‌-4. Treg = IL‌-2. Furthermore, it contains data on gene expression via the comparative method.

* A revision to this dataset includes corrections to some ND and No amp cell values. No changes were made to data points with measured, numerical values.