Cell adhesion and the immune system: a case study using earthworms

Abstract

In the earthworm's immune system, cell adhesion, which occurs by putative receptors on leukocytes, is essential after recognition of self vs. non‐self. Confrontation with foreign antigens is a normal event in the environment, replete with microbial pathogens that pose a threat to survival. To better understand what happens when an effector cell first recognizes a foreign target followed by its adhesion to it, isolated leukocytes, in sufficient quantities to be subjected to various analyses, have been extremely beneficial. In vitro approaches when accompanied by biochemical, immunological, and molecular technologies, have opened up new vistas concerning the immune response of earthworms and other invertebrates. The most recent discovery includes the preliminary identification of cell differentiation (CD) markers that play vital roles in recognitive and adhesive events. Certain leukocyte effectors show characteristics of natural killer (NK) cells that may act differently depending upon their source, whether autogeneic, allogeneic, xenogeneic, or expressed under normal or varying environmental conditions including exposure to xenobiotics. At the level of earthworm evolution, there is apparently a dissociation of phagocytosis from the process of killing by NK‐like effectors. There are at least three future challenges. First, it is essential to determine the precise nature of the CD markers with respect to their molecular structure. Second, once their molecular and biochemical characteristics have been defined, the role of these markers in cellular and humoral mechanisms must be clarified in order to define effector cell products and resulting immune responses. Third, there is a need to differentiate between the several lytic factors that have been found in earthworms with respect to molecular structure, and biochemical and functional characterization. Microsc. Res. Tech. 44:237–253, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Cytotoxicity and fibroblast properties during in vitro test of biphasic calcium phosphate/poly‐dl‐lactide‐co‐glycolide biocomposites and different phosphate materials

“…Biocompatibility testing involves biological testing of medical devices, representative samples of the device, or materials to identify a range of potential hazards and ensure that these products do not have adverse health effects on patients. Cell adhesion is an important parameter used for evaluating the usage stability of the proposed tissue engineered surfaces (Cooper et al, 1999). A cell's behavior and interaction with a biomaterial surface is dependent on properties such as topography, charge, chemistry, and surface energy.…”

Antibacterial Activity of Earthworms’ Coelomic Fluid

“…Current researches in many countries on the identification, isolation and synthesis of some 'bioactive compounds' from earthworms with potential medicinal values have brought revolution in the vermiculture studies (Cooper et al, 1999;Cho et al, 2004). It has been found that coelomic fluid of the earthworms contains more than 40 proteins and exhibits several biological activities including cytolysis, proteolysis, antimicrobial, hemolysis, hemagglutination, tumorolysis and mitogenic (Cooper et al, 2002).…”

Biochemical characteristics of Eiseniapore, a pore‐forming protein in the coelomic fluid of earthworms

“…Taken together, these two systems that require ion channel formation clearly underscore a unifying motif at the cellular level with respect to survival. Earthworms and other organisms have several strategies for maintaining and perpetuating the species, one of which is the immune system which functions effectively against microbes by means of the leukocytes and molecules that they synthesize and secrete [83–86]. Our current work emphasizes the capacity of coelomic fluid to effect lysis via the protein, Eiseniapore [44].…”