Project description:One of the most common genetic backgrounds for mice used as model to investigate human diseases is the BALB/c strain. This work is aimed to characterize the pattern of natural anti-carbohydrate antibodies present in serum of BALB/c mice by printed glycan array technology. Natural antibodies from serum of BALB/c mice interacted with at least 70 glycans from a library of 419 different carbohydrate structures. However, only a restricted number of these (12, ~17%) were highly recognized by natural antibodies, and shared by more than 80% of mice under examination. This conserved pattern differed dramatically from that of humans. This finding together with not identical repertoires of antibodies between individual mice should be specially considered when mouse models are intended to be used for investigation of human natural antibodies in different biomedical research and diagnostic contexts.
Project description:The mammalian gut is inhabited by a large and complex microbial community that lives in a mutualistic relationship with its host. Innate and adaptive mucosal defense mechanisms ensure a homeostatic relationship with this commensal microbiota. Secretory antibodies are generated from the active polymeric Ig receptor (pIgR)-mediated transport of IgA and IgM antibodies to the gut lumen and form the first line of adaptive immune defense of the intestinal mucosa. We probed mucosal homeostasis in pIgR knockout (KO) mice, which lack secretory antibodies. We found that in pIgR KO mice, colonic epithelial cells, the cell type most closely in contact with intestinal microbes, differentially expressed (>2-fold change) more than 200 genes compared with wild type mice, and upregulated the expression of anti-microbial peptides in a commensal-dependent manner. Detailed profiling of microbial communities based on 16S rRNA genes revealed differences in the commensal microbiota between pIgR KO and wild type mice. Furthermore, we found that pIgR KO mice showed increased susceptibility to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, and that this was driven by their conventional intestinal microbiota. In conclusion, secretory antibodies or the pIgR itself are required to maintain a stable commensal microbiota. In the absence of these humoral effector components, gut homeostasis is disturbed and the outcome of colitis significantly worsened.
2013-12-28 | GSE34630 | GEO
Project description:Fab-dimerized glycan-reactive antibodies are a novel structural category of natural antibodies
Project description:The mammalian gut is inhabited by a large and complex microbial community that lives in a mutualistic relationship with its host. Innate and adaptive mucosal defense mechanisms ensure a homeostatic relationship with this commensal microbiota. Secretory antibodies are generated from the active polymeric Ig receptor (pIgR)-mediated transport of IgA and IgM antibodies to the gut lumen and form the first line of adaptive immune defense of the intestinal mucosa. We probed mucosal homeostasis in pIgR knockout (KO) mice, which lack secretory antibodies. We found that in pIgR KO mice, colonic epithelial cells, the cell type most closely in contact with intestinal microbes, differentially expressed (>2-fold change) more than 200 genes compared with wild type mice, and upregulated the expression of anti-microbial peptides in a commensal-dependent manner. Detailed profiling of microbial communities based on 16S rRNA genes revealed differences in the commensal microbiota between pIgR KO and wild type mice. Furthermore, we found that pIgR KO mice showed increased susceptibility to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, and that this was driven by their conventional intestinal microbiota. In conclusion, secretory antibodies or the pIgR itself are required to maintain a stable commensal microbiota. In the absence of these humoral effector components, gut homeostasis is disturbed and the outcome of colitis significantly worsened. 4 groups: wild type mice treated with antibiotic (5 replicates), wild type mice left untreated (5 replicates), pIgR KO mice treated with antibiotic (6 replicates), and pIgR KO mice left untreated (6 replicates).
Project description:Natural antibodies, which arise without known immune exposure, have been described that specifically recognize cells dying from apoptosis but their role in innate immunity remains poorly understood. Herein, we show that the immune response to neo-antigenic determinants on apoptotic thymocytes is dominated by antibodies to oxidation-associated antigens, phosphorylcholine (PC), a head group that becomes exposed during programmed-cell death, and malondialdehyde (MDA), a reactive aldehyde degradation product of polyunsaturated lipids produced following exposure to reactive-oxidation species. While natural antibodies to apoptotic cells in naïve adult mice were dominated by PC and MDA specificities, the amounts of these antibodies were substantially boosted by treatment of mice with apoptotic cells. Moreover, the relative amounts of PC and MDA antibodies was affected by VH gene inheritance. Antibody interactions with apoptotic-cells also mediated the recruitment of C1q, which alone can promote apoptotic-cell phagocytosis by immature dendritic cells. Significantly, IgM-antibodies to both PC and MDA were primary factors in determining the efficiency of serum-dependent apoptotic-cell phagocytosis. Hence, we demonstrate a mechanism by which certain natural antibodies that recognize neo-antigens on apoptotic cells, in naïve mice and those induced by immune exposure to apoptotic-cells, can enhance the functional capabilities of immature dendritic cells for phagocytic engulfment of apoptotic cells. Keywords: Natural antibodies, Inflammation, Complement, Apoptosis
Project description:Caenorhabditis elegans is associated in nature with a species-rich, distinct microbiota, which was characterized only recently. Thus, our understanding of the relevance of the microbiota for nematode fitness is still at its infancy. One major benefit that the intestinal microbiota can provide to its host is protection against pathogen infection. However, the specific strains conferring the protection and the underlying mechanisms of microbiota-mediated protection are often unclear. Here, we identify natural C. elegans microbiota isolates that increase C. elegans resistance to pathogen infection. We show that isolates of the Pseudomonas fluorescens subgroup provide paramount protection from infection with the natural pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis through distinct mechanisms. We found that the P. lurida isolates MYb11 and MYb12 (members of the P. fluorescens subgroup) protect C. elegans against B. thuringiensis infection by directly inhibiting growth of the pathogen both in vitro and in vivo. Using genomic and biochemical analyses, we further demonstrate that MYb11 and MYb12 produce massetolide E, a cyclic lipopeptide biosurfactant of the viscosin group, which is active against pathogenic B. thuringiensis. In contrast to MYb11 and MYb12, P. fluorescens MYb115-mediated protection involves increased resistance without inhibition of pathogen growth and most likely depends on indirect, host-mediated mechanisms. This work provides new insight into the functional significance of the C. elegans natural microbiota and expands our knowledge of bacteria-derived compounds that can influence pathogen colonization in the intestine of an animal.
2021-12-31 | GSE136942 | GEO
Project description:Mutational antigenic profiling of natural and vaccine-elicited HIV antibodies
Project description:Protection against pathogens is a major function of the gut microbiota. Although bacterial natural products have emerged as crucial components of host-microbiota interactions, their exact role in microbiota-mediated protection is largely unexplored. We addressed this knowledge gap with the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegansand its microbiota isolatePseudomonas fluorescensMYb115 that is known to protect againstBacillus thuringiensis (Bt) infection. We find that MYb115-mediated protection depends on sphingolipids that are derived from an iterative type I polyketide synthase (PKS), thereby describing a noncanonical pathway of bacterial sphingolipid production. We provide evidence that MYb115-derived sphingolipids affectC. eleganstolerance to Bt infection by altering host sphingolipid metabolism. This work establishes sphingolipids as structural outputs of bacterial PKS and highlights the role of microbiota-derived sphingolipids in host protection against pathogens.
Project description:Human antibody response studies are largely restricted to periods of high immune activity (e.g., vaccination). To comprehensively understand the healthy B cell immune repertoire and how this changes over time and through natural infection, we profiled the antibodies of a single individual over 11 months through two periods of natural viral infection. We found that 1) a baseline of healthy variable (V) gene usage in antibodies exists and is stable over time, but antibodies in memory cells consistently have a different usage profile relative to earlier B cell stages; 2) a single complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) is potentially generated from more than one VJ combination; and 3) IgG and IgA antibody transcripts are found at low levels in early human B cell development, suggesting that class switching may occur earlier than previously realized. These findings provide insight into immune repertoire stability, response to natural infections, and human B cell development.