Anti-EF-Tu IgG titers increase with age and may contribute to protection against the respiratory pathogen Haemophilus influenzae.

ABSTRACT: Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a pathogen that commonly colonizes the nasopharynx of preschool children, causing opportunistic infections including acute otitis media (AOM). Patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are persistently colonized with NTHi and occasionally suffer from exacerbations by the bacterium leading to increased morbidity. Elongation-factor thermo unstable (EF-Tu), a protein critical for bacterial protein synthesis, has been found to moonlight on the surface of several bacteria. Here, we show that antibodies against NTHi EF-Tu were present in children already at 18 months of age, and that the IgG antibody titers increased with age. Children harboring NTHi in the nasopharynx also displayed significantly higher IgG concentrations.

SUBMITTER: Thofte O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6491980 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature