Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41800361›Full record

ArticleDiscovery immunology2026

Out of the shed and into the field: an immune toolkit for measuring wild ungulate immune phenotypes at multiple scales.

Luke Weinstein, Brian P Dolan, Holly K Arnold, Sara Carpenter, Leigh Combrink, Clinton W Epps, Jennifer L Johns, Emma Lantz, Brandon Munk, Shannon Phelps and 5 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Discovery immunology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Luke WeinsteinDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5842-6728
Brian P DolanDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Holly K ArnoldDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Sara CarpenterDepartment of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Leigh CombrinkDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Clinton W EppsDepartment of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Jennifer L JohnsDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Emma LantzWildlife Health Laboratory, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rancho Cordova, CA, USA.
Brandon MunkWildlife Health Laboratory, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rancho Cordova, CA, USA.
Shannon PhelpsDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Paige PrenticeDepartment of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Nicholas ShirkeyWildlife Health Laboratory, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rancho Cordova, CA, USA.
Marci WitczakDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Anna E JollesDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Brianna R BeechlerDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding factors that shape immune responses in wild animals is critical to predicting population resilience and long-term persistence. Immune function modifies the survival of individuals facing infectious disease, trauma, and environmental stressors, yet remains understudied. An individual's immune response is shaped not only by current and historic pathogen exposures but is mediated by both individual (e.g. host genetics, metabolic plane, age, and sex) and population-level (e.g. population size, density, and connectivity) factors. Bighorn sheep ( Methods: To address this limitation, we measured 18 immunologic traits across 581 wild bighorn to evaluate this toolkit's ability to detect immunological differences between individuals, populations, and metapopulations. Results: Most immunological phenotypes illustrated significant variation at the metapopulation level and individual level. Our assays revealed immune phenotypic variation consistent with two main axes of segregation-one that distinguished tradeoffs in bighorn innate versus adaptive immune responses, and another reflecting alternative inflammatory states, defined by distinct cytokine patterns. Bighorn age and sex also mediated immune response patterns. Conclusions: Our immunological toolkit sets the stage to further clarify landscape-level immunological variation in wild ungulate populations and provides a template for deploying integrative eco-immunological tools in any natural population to further understand wildlife health.

Indexed as

bighorn sheepdiagnosticseco-immunologyimmunologyphenotypes

Identifiers

PMID41800361
PMCPMC12961423

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.