无脊椎动物免疫分子的多态性

一般认为,非特异性免疫分子由于胚系基因种类有限而不具备多态性.但近年来人们发现,脊椎动物γ/δT细胞受体、B1细胞受体、某些固有免疫成分,以及无脊椎动物的某些免疫球蛋白超家族(immunoglobulin superfamily,IgSF)分子、抗菌肽和模式识别受体(pattern recognition receptors,PRR)等同样具有较高程度的多态性.与特异性免疫分子相似,其多态性形成机制主要为基因组水平的基因重排、单核苷酸多态性、DNA突变和mRNA水平的外显子可变剪接.该多态性的出现可能是无脊椎动物的一种适应性进化,其应为低等生物特异性识别和防御不同病原微生物感染的分子基础.本文就无脊椎动物免疫分子多态性的最新研究进展及其可能的形成机制与意义进行概述.     

无脊椎动物免疫分子多态性

 一般认为,非特异性免疫分子由于胚系基因种类有限而不具备多态性.但近年来人们发现,脊椎动物γ/δ T 细胞受体、B1细胞受体、某些固有免疫成分,以及无脊椎动物的某些免疫球蛋白超家族（immunoglobulin superfamily,IgSF）分子、抗菌肽和模式识别受体（pattern recognition receptors,PRR）等同样具有较高程度的多态性.与特异性免疫分子相似,其多态性形成机制主要为基因组水平的基因重排、单核苷酸多态性、DNA 突变和 mRNA 水平的外显子可变剪接.该多态性的出现可能是无脊椎动物的一种适应性进化,其应为低等生物特异性识别和防御不同病原微生物感染的分子基础. 本文就无脊椎动物免疫分子多态性的最新研究进展及其可能的形成机制与意义进行概述.     

无脊椎动物免疫记忆研究进展

无脊椎动物没有适应性免疫是目前流行的观点。然而,越来越多的研究表明,无脊椎动物在遭遇病原微生物的重复侵染时存在类似脊椎动物免疫记忆的现象,被称作天然性免疫记忆或免疫致敏。首先回顾了传统的免疫记忆及其发生机制,之后介绍了无脊椎动物免疫记忆现象及其研究进展,总结了无脊椎动物免疫记忆的几种可能发生机制,并对将来的研究提出了一些初步的设想。     

卷曲蛋白受体与肿瘤的研究进展

Wnt基因超家族编码一系列分泌型糖蛋白,由Wnt蛋白介导的Wnt信号通路是一个进化上高度保守的信号通路,在胚胎发育、细胞生长、干细胞增殖中发挥重要的作用.此外研究发现Wnt通路在癌症发生发展中也起着重要作用.Wnt信号配体-Frizzled受体,由Frizzled基因编码,属于7次跨膜蛋白受体家族,与G蛋白偶联受体的结构相似,目前研究发现,从无脊椎动物到脊椎动物至少有10个家族成员,其在心血管系统和其他器官系统中广泛表达.基于这些研究基础,本文将重点阐述Frizzled受体蛋白与疾病的可能或潜在的关系.由于Frizzled受体蛋白在疾病当中发挥了重要作用,并且在癌症中起着分子靶点的作用,我们有理由相信,Frizzled受体将成为一个有效的肿瘤治疗的分子靶点.     

转化生长因子—β超家族成员的信号传导通路

转化生长因子-β超家族是在无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中高度保守的一类细胞因子,其家族成员参与调节细胞的增殖、凋亡、分化和发育等多种生命活动。具有丝氨酸／苏氨酸激酶活性的Ⅰ型受体和Ⅱ型受体共同介导了转化生长因子-β超家族成员的跨膜信号传导。新近克隆鉴定的Smad蛋白家族负责将信号由细胞膜传导到细胞核。Smad介导的信号传导通路同其他信号传导通路之间存在相互调节。转化生长因子-β超家族的信号传导通路异常与肿瘤的发生有密切关系。     

鱼类Toll样受体及其信号传导的研究进展

鱼类是脊椎动物中的一个重要类群, 在其生存与进化的过程中, 免疫系统担负着保护鱼类免受病原感染的重任, 其中Toll样受体家族等介导的先天性免疫是鱼类抗病免疫的第一道防线, 并在连接先天性免疫与获得性免疫反应中起着桥梁作用. 虽然从无脊椎动物到高等脊椎动物, Toll样受体家族内多数成员在蛋白质结构与功能上都较为保守, 但是鱼类作为最低等的脊椎动物, 在其进化过程中又形成了一些特有Toll样受体分子, 其剪接类型也更丰富; 鱼类Toll样受体家族介导的免疫识别、免疫信号传导、激活和调控方式与高等脊椎动物也不尽相同. 文章主要综述了鱼类Toll样受体的结构、种类、功能、多样性、免疫信号传导及其调控特点, 为深入了解鱼类的免疫反应奠定基础.       

棘皮动物免疫学研究进展

棘皮动物属原始后口动物、无脊椎动物的最高等类群,它处于由无脊椎动物向脊椎动物开始分支进化的阶段．研究棘皮动物的免疫功能和作用机理,对从比较免疫学角度探讨动物免疫系统进化过程有承前启后的重要意义．因此,有必要对棘皮动物的免疫学研究进展作一个较全面的综述,并理清未来的研究热点和方向．棘皮动物与其他无脊椎动物一样具有先天性免疫系统,但未发现脊椎动物所具有的获得性免疫．其免疫应答是由参与免疫反应的效应细胞——体腔细胞和多种体液免疫因子共同介导的．比较免疫学分析表明,棘皮动物存在脊椎动物补体系统的替代途径和凝集素途径,但未发现经典途径和明确的终端途径．棘皮动物先天性免疫系统存在数量庞大的基因家族．今后应加强对未知免疫相关基因、蛋白质、信号传导途径及效应分子的研究,回答免疫系统的起源、功能和进化等问题．     

海洋无脊椎动物甲状腺激素信号通路的研究进展

在脊椎动物中,甲状腺激素信号通路是调控生长、发育和机体能量代谢必不可少的信号通路之一,并且参与了两栖类和鱼类的变态反应。近来,越来越多的证据表明,在海洋无脊椎动物中存在内源性的甲状腺激素、甲状腺激素受体等信号通路的成员分子,而且这些分子参与了海洋无脊椎动物的发育和变态过程。这表明在海洋无脊椎动物中存在与脊椎动物类似的甲状腺激素信号通路。综述了海洋无脊椎动物中甲状腺激素信号通路的相关研究进展,旨在为研究甲状腺激素在海洋无脊椎动物的生物学功能及其作用机制提供基础资料。     

C1q蛋白家族的结构、分布、分类和功能

C1q蛋白家族由众多含C1q结构域的蛋白组成, 从细菌到高等哺乳动物中都有分布。这类蛋白由一条信号肽、胶原样区(Collage-like region, CLR)和C1q球状结构域(Globular C1q domain, gC1q)组成。C1q蛋白家族根据其结构特点, 可分为三大类分子：C1q、C1q-like和ghC1q。C1q是补体经典途径的起始分子, 能够识别免疫复合物, 启动补体系统经典途径; 此外, 作为一种模式识别受体分子(Pattern recognition receptor, PRR), 它可以结合种类繁多的配体。C1q-like蛋白的结构类似于C1q分子, 含有CLR和gC1q结构域, 在水蛭中参与神经系统的修复, 在脊椎动物中实现从凝集素到免疫球蛋白结合分子的功能转变, 参与补体系统的激活。ghC1q蛋白只具有gC1q结构域和一段短的N末端序列, 包括分泌型蛋白(sghC1q)和非分泌型蛋白(cghC1q)。sghC1q在无脊椎动物固有免疫系统中发挥重要作用; 脊椎动物中的sghC1q可作为一类新型跨神经元调节因子, 在大脑的许多区域调节突触发育和突触可塑性。cghC1q基因最早可追溯至芽孢杆菌属的细菌中, 具有典型的gC1q果冻卷结构, 说明gC1q结构域有着非常悠久的进化历程且结构高度保守。文章对C1q蛋白家族的结构、分布、分类以及功能进行综述, 以期为从事该领域研究的科研人员提供有益参考。     

EF手图像超家族成员——肌钙蛋白C的研究进展

EF手图像超家族蛋白泛指一类含有由螺旋区-泡区-螺旋区构成的EF手图像模体的蛋白。这类蛋白通常都具有金属离子结合能力或者形成二聚体的能力。肌钙蛋白C是一种EF手图像蛋白,它具有钙离子结合能力,可以与肌钙蛋白I、肌钙蛋白T形成复合物调节肌肉收缩。目前,国内外对肌钙蛋白C的研究多数集中在脊椎动物上,而对无脊椎动物的研究较少。主要从EF手图像超家族的特性及其家族成员——肌钙蛋白C的分类、结构及功能等方面进行了阐述,并结合笔者自身的研究方向,简要介绍了家蚕肌钙蛋白C的研究情况及前景。     

Evolution of the lectin-complement pathway and its role in innate immunity

Discrimination between self and non-self by lectins (carbohydrate-binding proteins) is a strategy of innate immunity that is found in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In vertebrates, immune recognition mediated by ficolins (lectins that consist of a fibrinogen-like and a collagen-like domain), as well as by mannose-binding lectins, triggers the activation of the complement system, which results in the activation of novel serine proteases. The presence of a similar lectin-based complement system in ascidians, our closest invertebrate relatives, indicates that the complement system probably had a pivotal role in innate immunity before the evolution of an adaptive immune system in jawed vertebrates.     

The amphioxus genome provides unique insight into the evolution of immunity

Immune systems evolve as essential strategies to maintain homeostasis with the environment, prevent microbial assault and recycle damaged host tissues. The immune system is composed of two components, innate and adaptive immunity. The former is common to all animals while the latter consists of a vertebrate-specific system that relies on somatically derived lymphocytes and is associated with near limitless genetic diversity as well as long-term memory. Deuterostome invertebrates provide a view of immune repertoires in phyla that immediately predate the origins of vertebrates. Genomic studies in amphioxus, a cephalochordate, have revealed homologs of genes encoding most innate immune receptors found in vertebrates; however, many of the gene families have undergone dramatic expansions, greatly increasing the innate immune repertoire. In addition, domain-swapping accounts for the innovation of new predicted pathways of receptor function. In both amphioxus and Ciona, a urochordate, the VCBPs (variable region containing chitin-binding proteins), which consist of immunoglobulin V (variable) and chitin binding domains, mediate recognition through the V domains. The V domains of VCBPs in amphioxus exhibit high levels of allelic complexity that presumably relate to functional specificity. Various features of the amphioxus immune repertoire reflect novel selective pressures, which likely have resulted in innovative strategies. Functional genomic studies underscore the value of amphioxus as a model for studying innate immunity and may help reveal how unique relationships between innate immune receptors and both pathogens and symbionts factored in the evolution of adaptive immune systems.     

Life is a huge compromise: Is the complexity of the vertebrate immune-neuroendocrine system an advantage or the price to pay?

Recent advances in comparative immunology have established that invertebrates produce hypervariable molecules probably related to immunity, suggesting the possibility of raising a specific immune response. “Priming” and “tailoring” are terms now often associated with the invertebrate innate immunity. Comparative immunologists contributed to eliminate the idea of a static immune system in invertebrates, making necessary to re-consider the evolutive meaning of immunological memory of vertebrates. If the anticipatory immune system represents a maximally efficient immune system, why can it be observed only in vertebrates, especially in consideration that molecular hypervariability exists also in invertebrates? Using well-established theories concerning the evolution of the vertebrate immunity as theoretical basis we analyze from an Eco-immunology-based perspective why a memory-based immune system may have represented an evolutive advantage for jawed vertebrates. We hypothesize that for cold-blooded vertebrates memory represents a complimentary component that flanks the robust and fundamental innate immunity. Conversely, immunological memory has become indispensable and fully exploited in warm-blooded vertebrates, due to their stable inner environment and high metabolic rate, respectively.     

Did the molecules of adaptive immunity evolve from the innate immune system?

The antigen receptors on cells of innate immune systems recognizebroadly expressed markers on non-host cells while the receptorson lymphocytes of the adaptive immune system display a higherlevel of specificity. Adaptive immunity, with its exquisitespecificity and immunological memory, has only been found inthe jawed vertebrates, which also display innate immunity. Jawlessfishes and invertebrates only have innate immunity. In the adaptiveimmune response, T and B-lymphocytes detect foreign agents orantigens using T cell receptors (TCR) or immunoglobulins (Ig),respectively. While Ig can bind free intact antigens, TCR onlybinds processed antigenic fragments that are presented on moleculesencoded in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). MHC moleculesdisplay variation through allelic polymorphism. A diverse repertoireof Ig and TCR molecules is generated by gene rearrangement andjunctional diversity, processes carried out by the recombinaseactivating gene (RAG) products and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase (TdT). Thus, the molecules that define adaptiveimmunity are TCR, Ig, MHC molecules, RAG products and TdT. Nodirect predecessors of these molecules have been found in thejawless fishes or invertebrates. In contrast, the complementcascade can be activated by either adaptive or innate immunesystems and contains examples of molecules that gradually evolvedfrom non-immune functions to being part of the innate and thenadaptive immune system. In this paper we examine the moleculesof the adaptive immune system and speculate on the existenceof direct predecessors that were part of innate immunity.     

Reconstructing immune phylogeny: new perspectives

Numerous studies of the mammalian immune system have begun to uncover profound interrelationships, as well as fundamental differences, between the adaptive and innate systems of immune recognition. Coincident with these investigations, the increasing experimental accessibility of non-mammalian jawed vertebrates, jawless vertebrates, protochordates and invertebrates has provided intriguing new information regarding the likely patterns of emergence of immune-related molecules during metazoan phylogeny, as well as the evolution of alternative mechanisms for receptor diversification. Such findings blur traditional distinctions between adaptive and innate immunity and emphasize that, throughout evolution, the immune system has used a remarkably extensive variety of solutions to meet fundamentally similar requirements for host protection.     

EST analysis of the immune-relevant genes in Chinese amphioxus challenged with lipopolysaccharide

It is generally accepted that the adaptive immune system is only present in vertebrates but not in invertebrates. Amphioxus is the most basal chordate and hence is an important reference to the evolution of the adaptive immune system. Here, a cDNA library of lipopolysaccharide-challenged amphioxus was constructed in order to identify immune genes. A total of 3024 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were examined and 63 out of 398 annotated genes (16.3%) appeared related to immunity. Most of them encode cell adhesion molecules or signal proteins that are involved in immune responses. Although the key molecules such as TCR, MHC, Ig or VLR involved in the adaptive immune system were not identified in our database, we demonstrated the presence of histocompatibility-relevant genes and lymphocyte immune signaling-relevant genes. These findings support the statement that amphioxus presents some components that may be recruited by adaptive immune processes.     

Molecular evolution of the NF-κB signaling system

The mechanisms of innate immunity in vertebrates show certain overall resemblances to immune mechanisms of insects. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain these resemblances. (1) According to the evolutionary continuity hypothesis, innate immune mechanisms evolved in the common ancestor of vertebrates and insects and have been conserved since that time. (2) In the independent-evolution hypothesis, the mechanisms of innate immunity in vertebrates evolved independently from invertebrate immune mechanisms. Phylogenetic analysis of five gene families (Pelle, Rel, IkappaB, Toll, and TRAF) whose members are involved in NF-kappaB signaling in vertebrates and insects were used to decide between these hypotheses. The phylogenies of the Rel and TRAF families strongly supported independent evolution of immune functions in vertebrates and invertebrates, and, except for a possible case in the Pelle family, orthologous molecules having immune functions in both vertebrates and invertebrates were not found. The results suggest that NF-kappaB represents an ancient, generalized signaling system that has been co-opted for immune system roles independently in vertebrate and insect lineages.     

Trained immunity: a memory for innate host defense

Immune responses in vertebrates are classically divided into innate and adaptive, with only the latter being able to build up immunological memory. However, although lacking adaptive immune responses, plants and invertebrates are protected against reinfection with pathogens, and invertebrates even display transplant rejection. In mammals, past "forgotten" studies demonstrate cross-protection between infections independently of T and B cells, and more recently memory properties for NK cells and macrophages, prototypical cells of innate immunity, have been described. We now posit that mammalian innate immunity also exhibits an immunological memory of past insults, for which we propose the term "trained immunity." Understanding trained immunity will revolutionize our view of host defense and immunological memory, and could lead to defining a new class of vaccines and immunotherapies.