PUBLICATION

Adaptive autoimmunity and foxp3-based immunoregulation in zebrafish

Authors
Quintana, F.J., Iglesias, A.H., Farez, M.F., Caccamo, M., Burns, E.J., Kassam, N., Oukka, M., and Weiner, H.L.
ID
ZDB-PUB-100317-19
Date
2010
Source
PLoS One   5(3): e9478 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Caccamo, Mario
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Autoimmunity*
  • Cell Lineage
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Forkhead Transcription Factors/physiology*
  • Humans
  • Immune System
  • Interleukin-17/metabolism
  • Mice
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon/metabolism
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
  • T-Lymphocytes/immunology
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/physiology*
PubMed
20221429 Full text @ PLoS One
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Jawed vertebrates generate their immune-receptor repertoire by a recombinatorial mechanism that has the potential to produce harmful autoreactive lymphocytes. In mammals, peripheral tolerance to self-antigens is enforced by Foxp3(+) regulatory T cells. Recombinatorial mechanisms also operate in teleosts, but active immunoregulation is thought to be a late incorporation to the vertebrate lineage. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report the characterization of adaptive autoimmunity and Foxp3-based immunoregulation in the zebrafish. We found that zebrafish immunization with an homogenate of zebrafish central nervous system (zCNS) triggered CNS inflammation and specific antibodies. We cloned the zebrafish ortholog for mammalian Foxp3 (zFoxp3) which induced a regulatory phenotype on mouse T cells and controlled IL-17 production in zebrafish embryos. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings demonstrate the acquisition of active mechanisms of self-tolerance early in vertebrate evolution, suggesting that active regulatory mechanisms accompany the development of the molecular potential for adaptive autoimmunity. Moreover, they identify the zebrafish as a tool to study the molecular pathways controlling adaptive immunity.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping