秀丽隐杆线虫神经免疫相互作用的研究进展

Research progress in neuro-immune interactions in Caenorhabditis elegans

机体受外源病原体入侵时,会迅速激活固有免疫反应。免疫反应过强会导致炎症反应和组织损伤,过弱则会使机体受到感染。神经系统可通过释放神经递质、神经肽及激素来调节固有免疫反应的强度。与哺乳动物复杂的神经免疫系统结构相比,秀丽隐杆线虫的神经免疫系统结构简单,且易于进行遗传学、分子生物学和行为学分析等,因而被应用于神经免疫相互作用的研究。近年来,对秀丽隐杆线虫的研究发现,调节其固有免疫反应的神经通路主要是转化生长因子β通路、胰岛素信号通路和多巴胺通路。由于这些通路在进化上有许多保守之处,因而为高等生物神经免疫相互作用分子机制的研究提供了新思路。本文仅就近年来该领域的研究进展做一概述。

The innate immune response may be activated quickly once the organism is invaded by exotic pathogens.An excessive immune response may result in inflammation and tissue damage,whereas an insufficient immune response may result in infection.Nervous system may regulate the intensity of innate immune responses by releasing neurotransmitters,neuropeptides and hormones.Compared with the complicated neuro-immune system in mammals,it is much simpler in Caenorhabditis elegans.Besides,C.elegans is accessible to genetic,molecular biology and behavioral analyses,so it has been used in studies on neuro-immune interactions.It has been revealed recently in the studies with C.elegans that the neuronal pathways regulating innate immune responses primarily include a transforming growth factor-β（TGF-β） pathway,an insulin/insulin-like growth factor receptor（IGF） pathway and dopaminergic neurotransmission.Since these pathways are evolutionally conservative,so it might be able to provide some new ideas for the research on neuro-immune interactions at molecular levels.The recent progress in this field has been reviewed in present paper.