CsTrx80, a truncated form of thioredoxin, possesses chemokine-like property and enhances the immune defense of Cynoglossus semilaevis against bacterial infection

•Recombinant CsTrx80 (rCsTrx80) exhibited no insulin disulfide reductase activity.•rCsTrx80 was able to bind to head kidney monocytes and induce cellular migration.•Mutation of the cysteines in the CXXC motif had no effect on chemotactic activity.•rCsTrx80 induced the expression of immune genes in target cells.•In vivo administration of rCsTrx80 inhibited bacterial infection.

Thioredoxin (Trx) is a redox protein that plays an important role in anti-oxidative stress and redox signaling. In a recent report, we observed that the Trx of tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis), CsTrx1, is a reductase and an antioxidant with immunostimulatory property. In the current work, we studied the biological effect of a truncated CsTrx1, CsTrx80, which is composed of the N-terminal 80 residues of CsTrx1. We found that recombinant CsTrx80 (rCsTrx80) purified from Escherichia coli exhibited no insulin disulfide reductase activity; however, unlike rCsTrx1, which showed no apparent chemotactic activity, rCsTrx80 was able to bind to the head kidney monocytes of tongue sole and caused cellular migration in a dose-dependent manner. Mutation of the two cysteine residues in the highly conserved CXXC motif had no effect on the chemotactic activity of rCsTrx80. Like rCsTrx1, rCsTrx80 induced the expression of immune relevant genes in the target cells, but the induction patterns differed from that induced by rCsTrx1. In vivo study showed that when tongue sole were administered with rCsTrx80 before being infected with a bacterial pathogen, bacterial dissemination and colonization in fish tissues were significantly reduced compared to control fish. Taken together, these results indicate for the first time that a Trx80 derived from fish Trx possesses chemotactic and immunoregulatory properties which promote host resistance against bacterial infection.