Vaccine-Induced Intestinal Antibodies Effectively 'Enchains' Pathogens In The Intestine, Study Shows

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Pathogens like bacteria or viruses cause intestinal diseases. A new research clarifies the method in which vaccine-induced antibodies protect the intestine from the pathogens and prevents the formation of intestinal infections.

It is a known fact that vaccination acts to prevent harmful pathogens but the method by which intestinal antibodies, known as secretory IA, the function was previously not known. In a recently released study published in the journal "Nature", a group of scholars led by ETH Senior Assistant, Emma Slack has delved deeper into the process by which vaccine-induced IgA efficiently "enchained" the pathogens in the intestine. The researchers used the example of salmonella-based diarrhea to examine the process. The process indicates that the way the antibodies chain up harmful pathogens is much different than what was previously assumed, reported Eurek Alert.

As per Science Daily, the vaccines or the IgA controls the pathogen by binding up their daughter cells with each other. The binding up of antibodies and bacteria are known as agglutination. This does not stop the cell from multiplying, but the cell offspring's all stays enclosed within the bind up forming clumps. These clumps that are genetically homogeneous bacteria are captured in a way that they cannot attack the intestinal tissue much. These clumps also speed up pathogen excretion, and as the clusters are bound up, no genetic exchange occurs in between them.

However, the process of agglutination was believed to occur only in the condition of high densities of antibodies and bacteria, which is not the case in the intestine. The new research reveals it is the pathogens' growth rate which is the main cause behind agglutination. The IgA antibodies strongly capture and hold the pathogens in clumps so that they cannot interchange genes. This strategy of Salmonella vaccination is great for farm animals and can be used in other intestinal diseases like Shigella or Listeria.