Cell markers and determinants in fish immunology

Despite the impressive increase in the cloning and expression of genes encoding fish immunoregulatory molecules, the knowledge on in vivo and in vitro functional immunology of the corresponding peptide products is stilt at an initial stage. This is partly due to the lacking of specific markers for immunoregulatory peptides, that represent an indispensible tool to dissect immune reactions and to trace the fate of cellular events downstream of the activation. In this review we summarise the available information on functional immune activities of some teleost species and discuss the obtained data in an evolutionary and applied context. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.