Extracellular nucleotides, including adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine 5′-diphosphate (ADP), uridine 5′-triphosphate (UTP) and uridine 5′-diphosphate (UDP), released under inflammation or infection conditions, are important danger-associated signaling molecules that regulate host immune responses and inflammation by binding to and activating specific surface-localized ionotropic P2X and metabotropic P2Y purinergic receptors on immune cells in an autocrine and/or paracrine manner.

A review paper entitled “Extracellular ATP-mediated purinergic immune signaling in teleost fish: A review” was recently published in AQUACULTURE corresponded by Professors Shuo Li and Jinsheng Sun, in the College of Life Sciences, in which recent studies regarding the molecular mechanisms of immune challenge-induced ATP release in fish, the role of extracellular ATP signaling in the activation of fish innate immune responses, the purinergic receptors involved in regulating fish innate immune responses, the crosstalk between nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor (NLR) inflammasome signaling and extracellular ATP-mediated immune signaling, the immunomodulatory role of other extracellular nucleotides, including UTP, UDP and ADP, in fish, and the role of ectonucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolases in regulating extracellular ATP-induced innate immune responses in fish were systematically reviewed based on the over ten years’ work in Dr. Li’s lab. A schematic overview of extracellular ATP- and other nucleotide-mediated purinergic immune signaling pathways in teleost fish is consequently proposed (see below).

The studies were sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 31572645), the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (grant numbers: 18JCZDJC33600 and 13JCYBJC38300), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars provided by the State Education Ministry of China, the University Yong Talent Cultivation Program provided by Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, the Program for Innovative Research Team in Universities of Tianjin (grant number: TD13-5076), and the Tianjin Development Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0044848621001733