Antigenic mimicry of eel tissues by a myxosporidian parasite?

Humoral immune responses induced by Kudoa sp. (Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) antigens in BALB/c mice

“…antigens and the skeletal musculature of the Chilean hake reveal that the parasite does not share antigens with M. gayi gayi. The coexistence of shared antigens assumed by Pauley (1974) and McArthur and Sengupta (1982) for the genus Myxobolus as being responsible of the antigenic mimicry is not shown in the Chilean hake and the infecting Kudoa sp. Antigenic mimicry was considered by these authors as a reason for the "immune impunity" which many myxosporeans seem to have.…”

“…It seems that, despite the low or null response that myxosporeans provoke in their natural hosts (Hallyday 1974, McArthur 1977, Siau 1980, perhaps as a consequence of an antigenic mimicry (Pauley 1974, McArthur & Sengupta 1982, these parasites can induce an antibody response in other animals. As a result of the extent of Myxosporea in the sea world, the ingestion of these parasites with the fish we usually eat is nowadays common, while their immune consequences are still unknown.…”

Living off a fish: A trade-off between parasites and the immune system

“…Similarly, some Cryptocotyle lingua proteins recognized as immunogens in rabbits are not recognized by mullet, and could be a contributory factor in the persistence of metacercariae in the fish host for periods in excess of 2 years [102]. The first studies on the immune response against myxosporeans have suggested the possibility that some parasites might exhibit host antigens as a mimicry survival strategy [103]. During the crucial time of localization of Loma salmonae in the gills of rainbow trout, it seems that infected cells are neither expressing any parasite antigen nor eliciting an inflammatory response [78].…”

Fish immune response to Myxozoan parasites

“…D uring decades, it was thought that fish were unable to mount an adaptive or specific immune response against Myxosporea, as the first works failed to detect specific antibodies (Pauley, 1974;Halliday, 1974;Siau, 1980;Bartholomew et al, 1989), and a theory of the antigenic mimicry of the parasite was even proposed (McArthur & Sengupta, 1982). However, nowadays, the presence of specific antibodies has been unambiguously reported in fish infected by the myxosporeans Myxobolus cerebralis (Hedrick et al, 1998), Myxobolus artus (Furuta et al, 1993), Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (Saulnier & Kinkelin, 1996), Ceratomyxa shasta (Bartholomew, 2001) and Enteromyxum scophthalmi (Sitjà-Bobadilla et al, 2004).…”