Hematopoietic growth factors: the scenario in zebrafish

Abstract

Humoral regulation by ligand/receptor interactions is a fundamental feature of vertebrate hematopoiesis. Zebrafish are an established vertebrate animal model of hematopoiesis, sharing with mammals conserved genetic, molecular and cell biological regulatory mechanisms. This comprehensive review considers zebrafish hematopoiesis from the perspective of the hematopoietic growth factors (HGFs), their receptors and their actions. Zebrafish possess multiple HGFs: CSF1 (M-CSF) and CSF3 (G-CSF), kit ligand (KL, SCF), erythropoietin (EPO), thrombopoietin (THPO/TPO), and the interleukins IL6, IL11, and IL34. Some ligands and/or receptor components have been duplicated by various mechanisms including the teleost whole genome duplication, adding complexity to the ligand/receptor interactions possible, but also providing examples of several different outcomes of ligand and receptor subfunctionalization or neofunctionalization. CSF2 (GM-CSF), IL3 and IL5 and their receptors are absent from zebrafish. Overall the humoral regulation of hematopoiesis in zebrafish displays considerable similarity with mammals, which can be applied in biological and disease modelling research.

Keywords:

• Hematopoiesis
• growth factor
• cytokine
• interleukin
• colony-stimulating factor
• zebrafish

Acknowledgements

We thank the journal editors for waiting patiently for this review. We also acknowledge the ZFIN staff for their ongoing valuable work in curating the zebrafish literature into the ZFIN database (Howe et al., 2012), which was a tremendously valuable starting point for disambiguating the complex HGF literature for this review. We thank several colleagues we consulted for providing advice on specific details to ensure accuracy.

Disclosure statement

GL had a paid consultancy with CSL Behring (2016–2018).

Additional information

Funding

Current work in GLs lab is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC, 1086020), Australian Research Council (ARC, DP170102235), and Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision. The Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute is supported by grants from the State Government of Victoria and the Australian Government.