The porcine innate immune system: an update.
Over the last few years, we have seen an increasing interest and demand for pigs in biomedical research. Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) are closely related to humans in terms of their anatomy, genetics, and physiology, and often are the model of choice for the assessment of novel vaccines and therapeutics in a preclinical stage. However, the pig as a model has much more to offer, and can serve as a model for many biomedical applications including aging research, medical imaging, and pharmaceutical studies to name a few. In this review, we will provide an overview of the innate immune system in pigs, describe its anatomical and physiological key features, and discuss the key players involved. In particular, we compare the porcine innate immune system to that of humans, and emphasize on the importance of the pig as model for human disease.
Institute of Immunology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
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Mair
Institute of Immunology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
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Sedlak
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Käser
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Pasternak
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Levast
Institute of Immunology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
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Gerner
Institute of Immunology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
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Saalmüller
Institute of Virology and Immunoprophylaxis (IVI), Sensemattstrasse 293, 3147 Mittelhäusern, Switzerland.
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Summerfield
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Gerdts
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
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Wilson
Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, S7N 5E3 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Electronic address: francois.meurens@usask.ca.
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Meurens
D000818:Animals; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition / Q000276:immunology; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000276:immunology*; D013552:Swine / Q000276:immunology; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000276:immunology
D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D051192:Receptors, Pattern Recognition
Animal model; Innate immune cells; Innate response; Pig