xins have been reported to bind to the mammalian intestine’s mucosal surfaces, and suggested to thereby elicit humoral and mucosal immune responses in 3006665 mice. Along with reported biological responses to Bt-maize, concerns regarding possible allergenicity of GM plant crops, in particular the transgenic proteins, have been raised. Transgenic proteins undergo different post-translational modifications following integration of the transgenic DNA into a foreign organism’s genome, which may alter their allergenic 1 Effects of GM Bt-Maize in Diets for Juvenile Atlantic Salmon potential. The authors of these studies also suggest that GM crops may potentiate pre-existing allergies. In concert, all these various concerns have elicited uncertainty regarding long term ramifications of GM crop consumption to the health and longevity of animals and humans. In addition to the extensive risk assessment prior to market authorization, postmarket monitoring may now be required by the EU commission, based on the specific results of the pre-market risk assessment, to address these concerns. When required, PMM is considered necessary to confirm the safety of the products in the long term, and to increase the probability of detecting unintended effects. Implementation of PMM is the responsibility of the company seeking market release of their GM products. Finding suitable biomarkers for GM exposure are potentially useful for PMM. A 7th Framework Programme EUproject entitled Biomarkers for post market monitoring of short and long-term effects of genetically modified organisms on animal and human health was funded to investigate whether such biomarkers could be identified. The project used Btmaize as the authorized GM model. Model animals included mice, rats, pigs and fish at various stages of development. NVP-AUY922 Inclusion of plant crops in commercial diets for farmed fish is increasing in an effort to reduce dependence on limited marine resources such as fishmeal and fish oil, and to improve cost efficiency and sustainability of the aquaculture industry. This includes piscivorous species such as Atlantic salmon. A large share of the global market of some plant crops, such as maize and soybeans, are now genetically modified. To assess its safety, feeding trials with GM Bt-maize in post-smolt and juvenile Atlantic salmon diets, as well as in diets for a model fish species, zebrafish , have been conducted. Although no clearly negative health effects were observed in these studies, the salmon fed Bt-maize-containing diets displayed some differences in performance parameters and functional responses compared to control non-GM maize diets, including reduced feed intake and growth despite elevated activity of maltase in mid and distal intestine, and elevated gene expression of stress-related heat shock protein 70 and superoxide dismutase in the liver. More recently and within the GMSAFOOD project, post-smolt Atlantic salmon fed a 20% inclusion level of Bt-maize for 90 days displayed reductions in digestibility of protein and mineral, 16476508 retention efficiency of lipid and energy, as well as activity of leucine aminopeptidase in proximal intestine. Gene expression of the T cell marker CD4 and the cytokine interferon-c in the distal intestine was increased. In an effort to explore whether a pre-existing 
hypersensitivity response would alter responses to Bt-maize, experimental groups were included that were simultaneously exposed to extracted soybean meal in their diets, which causes
