The role of sex steroids in the modulation of fish immune responses has received little attention. Previous studies have demonstrated that 17β-estradiol (E2) is able to alter the response of gilthead seabream leukocytes to infectious agents. We have used suppression subtractive hybridization to identify genes upregulated by E2 (50ng/ml) in macrophage cultures from gilthead seabream. We isolated 393 up-regulated cDNA fragments that led to the identification of 162 candidate estrogen-responsive genes. Functional analyses revealed the presence of several enriched immune processes and molecular pathways. The E2 up-regulation of some immune-relevant genes was further confirmed by real time RT-PCR. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the ability of E2 to orchestrate profound alterations in the macrophage expression profile, especially immune-related processes and pathways. This is the first report on E2-dependent modifications of fish macrophage transcriptome and lends weight to a suggested role for estrogen in the immune system, the possible significance of which is discussed. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Liarte, S., Chaves-Pozo, E., Abellán, E., Meseguer, J., Mulero, V., Canario, A. V. M., & García-Ayala, A. (2011). Estrogen-responsive genes in macrophages of the bony fish gilthead seabream: A transcriptomic approach. Developmental and Comparative Immunology, 35(8), 840–849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2011.03.015
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