Women during the pregnancy produce super antibodies that protect newborns, these are antibodies with amplified powers thanks to which protection against possible infections is enhanced. A study developed by the researchers of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, provides an interesting explanation. On the functioning of super antibodies in the first days of immunity provided by the mother.
This new information is critical for preventing death and disability from a wide range of infectious diseases. Thanks to the discovery of super antibodies, researchers may be able to mimic the amplified power antibodies that expectant mothers produce to develop new drug therapies to treat diseases and develop better-performing vaccines to prevent them.
The results of the Research have been published in the scientific journal Nature.
Super antibodies: this is how they work
“For many years, scientists believed that antibodies could not enter cells, they did not have the necessary machinery. And so, infections caused by pathogens living exclusively inside cells were thought to be invisible to antibody-based therapies.“, he has declared Sing Sing Wayresearcher of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Cincinnati Children’s: “Our results show that pregnancy changes the structure of some sugars attached to antibodies, which allows them to protect babies from infection by a much wider range of pathogens. “
“The maternal-infant dyad is so special. It is the intimate connection between a mother and her baby“, he added John Ericksonresearcher of the Division of Neonatology and first author of the study.
Both Way and Erickson are part of the Cincinnati Children’s Center for Inflammation and Tolerance and the Perinatal Institute, always committed to improving therapies for all pregnant women and their newborns.
Erickson continued: “This special connection begins when babies are in the womb and continues after birth. I love to see the closeness between mothers and their babies in our newborn care units. This discovery paves the way for pioneering new therapies that can specifically target infections in pregnant mothers and newborns. I believe these findings will have far-reaching implications for super antibody-based therapies in other fields as well. “
The new research has identified which specific sugar is changed during pregnancy, as well as how and when the change occurs. During pregnancy, the “acetylated” form of sialic acid (one of the sugars attached to antibodies) changes to the “deacetylated” form. This very subtle molecular shift allows immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most common type of antibody in the body, to take on an expanded protective role, giving life to super antibodies and stimulating immunity through receptors that respond specifically to deacetylated sugars. .
“This change is the light switch that allows maternal super antibodies to protect babies from infections within the cellsWay explained. “Mothers always seem to know what’s best “Erickson added.
Using advanced mass spectrometry and other technologies, the team identified the main biochemical differences between antibodies in non-pregnant versus pregnant mice.. the researchers also identified the enzyme naturally expressed during pregnancy responsible for driving this transformation from antibodies to super antibodies.
Next, the scientists successfully restored lost immune protection by providing stocks of laboratory-grown antibodies from healthy pregnant mice to pups born to mothers that had been genetically engineered to lack the ability to remove acetylation from antibodies to improve protection.
Hundreds of monoclonal antibodies have been produced as potential treatments for various ailments including cancer, asthma, multiple sclerosis, as well as difficult-to-remove viral and bacterial infections, including rapidly developed new treatments for COVID-19. Some are already approved by the FDA, many others are in clinical trials, and some have not shown obvious results.
Way specified that the molecular alteration of antibodies that evolve into super antibodies, which occurs naturally during pregnancy, can be replicated to change the way antibodies stimulate the immune system to refine their effects. This could potentially lead to better treatments for infections caused by other intracellular pathogens including HIV and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common virus that poses serious risks to children.
“We have known for years the many far-reaching benefits of breastfeeding“, Has aggt Erickson. “An important factor is the transfer of antibodies into breast milk“. The study shows that the molecular switch persists in nursing mothers so that super antibodies are also transferred to babies through breast milk.
Additionally, Way pointed out that the findings highlight the importance of receiving all vaccines available to women of reproductive age, as well as the need for researchers to develop even more vaccines against infections that are particularly important in pregnant or pregnant women. newborns.
“Immunity must exist within the mother in order to be passed on to her childWay explained. A patent on the sialic acid modification of antibodies has been filed by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with first author Erickson and senior author Way as inventors (PCT / US2022 / 018847).
In addition to Erickson and Way, I study it on Nature he was co-author of 9 researchers from Cincinnati Children’s and the University of Cincinnati: Alexander Yarawsky, BS, Jeanette LC Miller, Ph.D., Tzu-Yu Shao, BS, Ashley Severance, Ph.D., Hilary Miller- Handley, MD, Yuehong Wu, MS, Giang Pham, Ph.D., Yueh-Chiang Hu, Ph.D., and Andrew Herr, Ph.D. Experts from the University of Georgia, Ohio State University, of Cornell University and the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo.
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