Abstract
The ability of bats to act as reservoir for viruses that are highly pathogenic to humans suggests unique properties and functional characteristics of their immune system. However, the lack of bat specific reagents, in particular antibodies, has limited our knowledge of bat's immunity. Here, we report a panel of cross-reactive antibodies against MHC-II, NK1.1, CD3, CD21, CD27, and immunoglobulin (Ig), that allows flow cytometry analysis of B, T and NK cell populations in two different fruit-eating bat species namely, Pteropus alecto and E. spelaea. Results confirmed predominance of T cells in the spleen and blood of bats, as previously reported by us. However, the percentages of B cells in bone marrow and NK cells in spleen varied greatly between wild caught P. alecto bats and E. spelaea colony bats, which may reflect inherent differences of their immune system or different immune status. Other features of bat B cells were investigated. A significant increase in sIg+ B cell population was observed in the spleen and blood from LPS-injected bats but not from poly I:C-injected bats, supporting T-independent polyclonal B cell activation by LPS. Furthermore, using an in vitro calcium release assay, P. alecto B cells exhibited significant calcium release upon cross-linking of their B cell receptor. Together, this work contributes to improve our knowledge of bat adaptive immunity in particular B cells.
Highlights
Classified in the order Chiroptera and the only flying mammals [1], bats have long been of great interest to the scientific community for their unique features, including their long lifespan that is counter to the established relationship between body mass and longevity [2, 3], their low incidence of cancer [4] and their ability to harbor deadly pathogens without signs of disease
We further extended the list of cross-reactive antibodies that are useful to study T, B, and NK cell populations
We showed that these antibodies cross-reacted with immune cells from E. spelaea, a fruit-eating bat species within the genus Eonycteris from the megabat suborder, Megachiroptera, family of Pteropodidae that resides in many parts of Southeast Asia including Singapore and is not an endangered species [32]
Summary
Classified in the order Chiroptera and the only flying mammals [1], bats have long been of great interest to the scientific community for their unique features, including their long lifespan that is counter to the established relationship between body mass and longevity [2, 3], their low incidence of cancer [4] and their ability to harbor deadly pathogens without signs of disease. Bats have been shown to act as reservoirs for viruses that otherwise result in fatal outcomes in humans, including rabies virus, ebola virus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, and MERS-CoV virus [5]. New viruses are isolated from bats [6, 7]. This suggests that bats have co-evolved with these viruses and are able to control and/or contain them [8].
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