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Fishing for mammalian paradigms in the teleost immune system

Nature Immunology volume 14, pages 320–326 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a renaissance in the study of fish immune systems. Such studies have greatly expanded the knowledge of the evolution and diversification of vertebrate immune systems. Several findings in those studies have overturned old paradigms about the immune system and led to the discovery of novel aspects of mammalian immunity. Here I focus on how findings pertaining to immunity in teleost (bony) fish have led to major new insights about mammalian B cell function in innate and adaptive immunity. Additionally, I illustrate how the discovery of the most ancient mucosal immunoglobulin described thus far will help resolve unsettled paradigms of mammalian mucosal immunity.

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Figure 1: Hypothetical roles of phagocytic B-1 cells in antibody secretion and cytokine production after phagocytosis of microbes in a BCR-independent manner.
Figure 2: Hypothetical roles of phagocytic B-1 cells in antibody secretion and cytokine production after phagocytosis of apoptotic bodies.

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Acknowledgements

I thank L. King and D. Parra for critical reading and editing of the manuscript. Supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF-MCB-0719599), the US National Institutes of Health (R01GM085207-01), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA-NRI 2006-01619 and USDA-NRI 2007-01719).

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    J Oriol Sunyer

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Sunyer, J. Fishing for mammalian paradigms in the teleost immune system. Nat Immunol 14, 320–326 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2549

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