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Functional aspects of fish lymphocytes
1Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, Largo dell'Università, 01100 Viterbo, Italy. scapigg@unitus.it
Developmental and Comparative Immunology
|May 28, 2013
Summary
Acquired immunity in vertebrates, including jawless fish, evolved early. This review details fish lymphocyte functions, highlighting recent advances in markers and future research directions in fish immunology.
Area of Science:
- Comparative immunology
- Evolutionary immunobiology
- Vertebrate immunology
Background:
- Acquired immunity, characterized by somatic recombination and memory, is ancient, dating back to jawless vertebrates.
- Molecular pathways for antigen receptor generation differ between jawless and jawed fishes, despite similar lymphocyte functions.
- Recent research is expanding knowledge on fish lymphocyte responses and identifying specific markers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current understanding of functional features in fish lymphocytes.
- To highlight advancements in fish immunology, particularly in lymphocyte subset characterization.
- To outline future research avenues combining genetic knowledge with cellular markers.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on comparative immunology and vertebrate immunobiology.
- Analysis of experimental evidence on acquired immunity and antigen receptor evolution.
- Synthesis of recent data on fish lymphocyte in vitro and in vivo functional responses.
- Compilation of information on emerging specific markers for fish lymphocytes.
Main Results:
- Experimental evidence supports the ancient origins of acquired immunity in vertebrates.
- Independent evolution of antigen receptor generation pathways in jawless and jawed fishes.
- Increasing availability of specific markers aids in characterizing fish lymphocyte subsets.
- Functional responses of fish lymphocytes are becoming better understood.
Conclusions:
- Fish immunology is entering a new era with improved tools for studying lymphocyte function.
- Future research can integrate knowledge of immune gene products with cell markers for deeper insights.
- Understanding fish lymphocyte functions is crucial for advancing comparative immunology.
Keywords:
5-HT35-hydroxytriptamineCDRCMCCTLComparative immunologyConAFishFunctionalHELISHITAMITIMIgLPSLymphocytesMHCMIFMLRNCCNKTPBLPHAPoly I:CRAGReceptorsT cell receptorTLRTRcell-mediated cytotoxicitycomplementarity-determining regionconcanavalin Acytotoxic T lymphocyteshen egg lysozymeimmunoglobulinimmunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifimmunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motifin situ hybridizationlipopolysaccharidemAbmacrophage-inhibitory factormajor histocompatibility complexmixed leucocyte reactionmonoclonal antibodynatural cytotoxic cellsnatural killer T cellsperipheral blood leukocytesphytohemoagglutinin (generally from beans)polyinosine–cytidinerecombination-activating genetoll-like receptor
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