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According to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, how a tiny marine invertebrate distinguishes between its own cells and those of its competitors bears a striking resemblance
to the human immune system.
The findings, published in PNAS, show that the components of our immune system evolved much earlier than we previously thought, which may help deepen the understanding of transplant rejection and will one day guide the development
of new immunotherapies.
Dr Matthew Nictora, senior author and assistant professor of surgery and immunology at the Thomas E.
Co-growing horned hydras belong to the same group
as jellyfish, corals and anemones.
Nictora explains: "As the population grows and competes for space on the crab shell, they often collide with
each other.
Nicotra and his colleagues had previously discovered two genes called Alr1 and Alr2, which were involved in hydra's fusion or combat systems, but they predicted there were many more stories
.
"If you imagine the genome of an animal unfolding in front of us, we shine a flashlight on those two little dots, but we don't know what else is
out there," Nicotra said.
In the new study, the researchers identified and sequenced 41 Alr genes that form a complex that may control self-identification and non-self-identification
in hydra plants.
Next, the team wanted to see how the proteins encoded by the Alr gene were compared to those in vertebrates
.
Using this tool, the researchers compared the structure of the Alr protein and the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) protein, an important group
of antibodies and receptors on the immune system's B cells and T cells.
"'V' stands for variable," Nicotra said
.
Nicotra was surprised to find that the domains of the Alr protein have 3D structures that are very similar to the V-set domain, although they lack the characteristics
typically found in IgSF proteins.
"There's no doubt that these are V-fields," he explains
.
Until now, it has been thought that the V-shaped domain originated from a branch
of the animal kingdom known as the bilateral position.
The V-set domain found in the genus Hydroactinia (the genus Hydra is part of a taxa that appeared early in animal evolution) suggests that the V-set domain appeared earlier in the evolutionary tree, earlier
than previously thought.
"We know a lot about the immune systems of mammals and other vertebrates, but we only touch the surface
of the invertebrate immune system," Nicotra said.
We believe that a better understanding of the immune signaling pathways of organisms such as hydra may eventually lead to the discovery of alternative ways
to manipulate these signaling pathways in patients with transplanted organs.
”
A family of unusual immunoglobulin superfamily genes in an invertebrate histocompatibility complex