FISH IMMUNE CELL MARKERS

Cells can be identified using their protein expression profiles

It is well established from studies in mammals that different types of cells carry distinct arrays of proteins on their cell surface or within their cytoplasm.  Thus, not only can cells be distinguished based on their morphology (i.e. how they look under a microscope), they can also be distinguished depending on which combinations of extracellular or intracellular proteins that they express.   Furthermore, the differentiation/activation state of a cell can be determined by looking at which proteins are expressed and at which level each individual protein is expressed.  For example, consider the T- and B-lymphocytes.  Every T-and B-cell has about 100,000 molecules on its surface. B cells have CD21, CD35, CD40, and CD45 in addition to other molecules on their surfaces whereas T-cells have CD2, CD3, CD4, CD28, CD45R, and other molecules on their surfaces.  T-cells can be further divided into cytotoxic T-cells or helper T-cells that express either CD8 proteins or CD4 proteins on their surfaces respectively.  When taking a look at, say, CD8+ T-cells at their different states of differentiation, the molecular profile changes from naïve cells to activated (effector) cells to memory cells (see the table below).  Thus, recognizing a cell’s molecular profile is very important for understanding what cell-type it is and how that cell should be behaving.

Discovering the protein expression profiles of fish cells

Despite the large amount of information that exists to study human and mouse cells, the information and cellular reagents needed to study the cells of many other vertebrate species are sparse.  Many researchers are attempting to fill the gaps in the knowledge for these other species by using a comparative approach to first identify the orthologous genes to the known human/mouse cell surface (or intracellular) molecules, and then to develop recombinant proteins and antibodies against those proteins that can be then used for cellular analyses.  In addition to the many great laboratories worldwide addressing this shortfall, a consortium of scientists working together with the U.S. Veterinary Immune Reagent Network is performing a major effort with regard to identifying and analyzing molecules of the immune system in domesticated animals with an emphasis on helping with disease control.  What this website aims to do is collate information concerning important molecules associated with immune cells of teleost fish hopefully making life a little easier for the scientists working in this extremely important field.  Although much of the information is still in the early stages (as is this website!), I’m sure that rapid progress is sure to follow, so watch this site for regular updates!

Important immune cell-surface molecules of bony fish

CD8 molecules –                    mammalian expression = thymocyte subsets and MHC class I restricted T-cells

15829311

Atlantic salmon

mRNA

16230027

European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax

16414122

Gilthead seabream Sparus aurata

Aquaculture 

  Volume 256, Issues 1-4 2006, Pages 631-637

10689095

10706703

10706703

10706703

Zebrafish 

Danio rerio 

mRNA

15854681

CD4 molecules–      mammalian expression = thymocyte subsets, MHC class II restricted T cells, monocytes and macrophages

Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus 

Channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus 

16337483

16337483

16337483

Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss

Torafugu

Takifugu rubripes

15322779

Torafugu

Takifugu rubripes

15322779

CD28 molecules                                                                                                   mammalian expression = T cells

16547256

CTLA4/CD152 molecules                                                               mammalian expression = activated T-cells

16547256

CD3 molecules                                                                           mammalian expression = T cells and thymocytes

11345589

11345589

11345589

Torafugu

15756549

Torafugu

15756549

Torafugu

15756549

CD2 molecules                                                                  mammalian expression = T -cells, thymocytes, NK-cells

Zebrafish 

12477932

CD45 molecules                                                                   mammalian expression of different splice variants =

              CD45RO: memory T-cells, some B-cells, monocytes, macrophages, CD45RA: naïve T-cells, B-cells, monocytes, CD45RB: B-cells, some T-cells

Zebrafish 

Danio rerio

Zebrafish 

Danio rerio

Torafugu

Takifugu rubripes

Ictalurus punctatus

15236932

Common carp 

Cyprinus carpio 

11081442

Chemokine receptors

Many of these chemokine receptor genes are already covered in a great website called The Cytokine Family cDNA Database under the following URL

http://csp.medic.kumamoto-u.ac.jp/CSP/FishR/FishR.html

Coming soon!          T-cell receptors, immunoglobulins, and other Cluster of Differentiation markers.

                                 Intracellular molecules – kinases, transcription factors

                                 Cytokines – Th1, Th2, Th3/Treg associated cytokines

Important links for finding more information about fish and fish immune cell molecules

Society websites

·         International Society for Developmental and Comparative Immunology-ISDCI

·         The Japanese Association for Developmental and Comparative Immunology - JADCI

• Nordic Society of Fish Immunology - NOFFI

·         European Association of Fish Pathologists - EAFP

·         American Association of Veterinary Immunologists - AAVI

·         American Fisheries Society – AFS

·         Asian Fisheries Society – Fish Health Section

·         Fisheries Society of the British Isles – FSBI

·         European Aquaculture Society – EAS

Interest Groups and specialized websites

·         Fishdisease.net

·         Aquaculture genomics

·        Teleost MHC sequence database

Journal websites

·         Developmental and Comparative Immunology

·         Fish and Shellfish Immunology

·         Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology

·         Immunogenetics

·         Molecular Immunology

·         Journal of Immunology

·         Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA

Links to groups

Government, commercial and academic research groups working on fish health, immunology or just providing resources that help (those that I could find on the internet at least!).  This list is still being compiled so please don’t be offended if your facility is not included!

Europe

·         Aquamedicine (Norway)

·         CEFAS (UK)

·         Danish Network for Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Denmark)

·         Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute - Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (Germany)

·         European Commission 

·         FRS Marine Laboratory (UK)

·         Inland Fisheries Research Institute (Poland)

·         Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (France)

·         Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology – Fish Immunology and vaccinology (Portugal)

·         Research Group of Fish Immunophysiology and Aquaculture (Spain)

·         Scottish Fish Immunology Research Centre (UK)

• The Fisheries Research Institute/Institute for Sustainable Development (Iceland)
• The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (Greece)
• The Laboratory of Aquatic Pathobiology, Abo Academy (Finland)

·         University of Aberdeen – Fish Immunology Group (UK)

·         University of Bergen, Department of Biology – Fish Immunology Group – Fish Disease Group (Norway)

·         University of Stirling – Institute of Aquaculture (UK)

·        Wageningen University Cell Biology and Immunology Group (The Netherlands)

·         Wealth (European consortium)

Asia

·        Aquatic animal health division - National Research Institute of Aquaculture,Fisheries Research Agency (Japan)

·         Fisheries Laboratory – University of Tokyo, Aquatic Bioscience Research Center (Japan)

·         Laboratory of Aquatic Pathology (Japan)

·         Lady Doak College – Centre of Fish Immunology (India)

·        Tokyo University of Fisheries (Japan)

North America

·         Aquanet (Canada)

·         Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (Canada)

·         Center of Marine Biotechnology (USA)

·         Cornell University Aquatic Animal Health Program (USA)

·         Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center (USA)

·         Marine Disease Pathology and Research Program (USA)

·         National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture (USDA-ARS) (USA)

·         National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Fisheries (USA)

·         Pacific Biological Station (Canada)

·         Profishent (USA)

·         The Institute for Marine Biosciences (Canada)

·         U.S. Veterinary Immune Reagent Network (USA)

·         Univeristy of Idaho – Aquaculture Research Institute (USA)

·         University of Utah (Zebrafish Immunology Lab) (USA)

·         Virginia Institute of Marine Science (USA)

·         Washington State University (USA)

·         Western Fisheries Research Center (USGS) (USA)

·         Dept. of Microbiology, University of Mississippi Medical Center (USA)

Australasia

·         University of Tasmania – School of Aquaculture (Australia)

• Interdisciplinary Network for Aquatic Animal Health (Australia)
• CSIRO (Australia)
• CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (Australia)
• Department of Agriculture and Food (Australia)
• New Zealand Animal Health Reference Laboratory (New Zealand)