鱼类几种新型免疫因子的研究进展

Cytokines are low molecular weight proteins that serve as chemical messengers within the innate and adaptive immune systems. To date, great progresses have been made in fish cytokine researches. A number of cytokine genes have been cloned and sequenced in fish. This review will focus on a number of novel immune-related cytokines including interleukin, interferon, interferon regulatory factors, Myxovirus resistance proteins, transforming growth factor, tumor necrosis factor, chemokines (CC and CXC chemokines), NK dell enhancement factor, MHCⅠ, MHCⅡ and some of their receptors, which have been identified in many fish species recently. Their genes and molecular structures are clarified. These cytokines are evolutionary well conserved. They share high identities at both the nucleotide and amino acid levels with the high vertebrate cytokines, and maintain characteristic structural motifs of those higher vertebrates. The function of some cytokine genes are analyzed in conventional manner by production of recombinant molecules. Several fish cytokines have been identified based on functional similarity to, or cross-reactivity with, mammalian cytokines. Moreover, molecular techniques, such as suppression subtractive hybridization, PCR and cDNA library screening, have recently enabled the identification of fish cytokine genes. Because of fish phylogenetic position and the fact that their immune systems have not been elaborated to the extent seen in mammals, progresses in this field will deepen our understanding of the molecular origins of cytokine genes and extend our knowledge on their mechanisms conferring disease resistance and the recombinant cytokines to control fish diseases.