Abstract
Overcrowding conditions and temperatures shifts regularly manifest in large-scale infections of farmed fish, resulting in economic losses for the global aquaculture industries. Increased understanding of the functional mechanisms of fish antimicrobial host defenses is an important step forward in prevention of pathogen-induced morbidity and mortality in aquaculture setting. Like other vertebrates, macrophage-lineage cells are integral to fish immune responses and for this reason, much of the recent fish immunology research has focused on fish macrophage biology. These studies have revealed notable similarities as well as striking differences in the molecular strategies by which fish and higher vertebrates control their respective macrophage polarization and functionality. In this review, we address the current understanding of the biological mechanisms of teleost macrophage functional heterogeneity and immunity, focusing on the key cytokine regulators that control fish macrophage development and their antimicrobial armamentarium.
Highlights
The immune systems of all vertebrates are integrally dependent on macrophage-lineage cells and while the ontogeny of functionally disparate macrophage subsets and lineages have been thoroughly studied in mammals [1, 2], they remain to be adequately defined in aquatic vertebrates such as teleost fish [previously reviewed by Hodgkinson et al [3]]
All of these NADPH oxidase components have been identified in teleosts and fish macrophage reactive oxygen species (ROS) responses has been well documented in contexts of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) stimulation [259,260,261,262], antimicrobial responses [263,264,265], and recombinant cytokines stimulation such as with TNFα [183, 184, 266], IFNγ [136, 138, 148], and CSF-1 [32]
Akin to the vast heterogeneity of functionally desperate macrophage subsets observed across mammals, teleost fish appear to possess both a spectrum of functionally distinct macrophage subsets as well as a plethora of potential molecular drivers of these distinct lineages
Summary
Increased understanding of the functional mechanisms of fish antimicrobial host defenses is an important step forward in prevention of pathogen-induced morbidity and mortality in aquaculture setting. Macrophage-lineage cells are integral to fish immune responses and for this reason, much of the recent fish immunology research has focused on fish macrophage biology. These studies have revealed notable similarities as well as striking differences in the molecular strategies by which fish and higher vertebrates control their respective macrophage polarization and functionality. We address the current understanding of the biological mechanisms of teleost macrophage functional heterogeneity and immunity, focusing on the key cytokine regulators that control fish macrophage development and their antimicrobial armamentarium
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