Abstract

Cetacean immunology is a rapidly progressing field. A number of reagents and assays have been developed in the last few years, in order to provide tools in the evaluation of the complex immune system. Nevertheless, the use of those tools is not yet common practice in the monitoring of health of cetaceans. In order to promote the evaluation of immune functions as diagnostic and prognostic tools, the purpose of the present talk is to summarize the reagents and assays available to evaluate immune functions of cetaceans and discuss their potential uses in monitoring of health and progression of disease processes. Assays to evaluate the innate or non-specific, as well as the acquired or specific immunity will be discussed. These assays will include: immunophenotyping, which allows the identification of morphologically indistinguishable subsets of leukocytes; phagocytosis, which quantifies the ability of neutrophils to engulf foreign particles; respiratory burst, which quantifies the ability of neutrophils to destroy or kill phagocytized particles; NK activity, the response to tumor cells and early viral infections; blastogenesis, the ability of lymphocytes to proliferate upon non-specific stimulation; IL-2R expression, measuring lymphocyte activation; mixed lymphocyte reaction, to measure the ability of lymphocytes to recognize and proliferate to cells from a different individual; and immunoglobulins, to measure the levels of specific or non-specific antibodies. Reagents recently developed include cetacean-specific monoclonal antibodies to identify B (CD19, CD21) and T (CD2) cells, as well as T cell activation (CD45R), and potentially neutrophils activation (CD11/CD18). The uses, limitations, and potential clinical applications of these assays and reagents will be discussed.