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Do antibodies select a healthy microbiota?

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 16, pages 767–774 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Disruptions to the microbiota can have pathological consequences, which highlights the need to understand the factors that contribute to its stability. Although decades of research have focused on the importance of IgA during pathogenic infection, much of the IgA that is generated in the gut targets the resident commensal microorganisms. Despite this observation, the role of antibodies in regulating microbiota composition remains controversial and poorly understood. Here we propose that antibodies generated in response to microbial colonization of the gut shape the composition of the microbiota to benefit the health of the host through a process that we term antibody-mediated immunoselection (AMIS). Given the exquisite specificity of antibodies and an emerging interest in the use of immunotherapies, we suggest that understanding AMIS of the microbiota will highlight novel uses of antibodies to manipulate microbial communities for therapeutic benefit.

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Figure 1: Role of immune recognition pathways in antibody-mediated immunoselection of the microbiota.
Figure 2: Antibody–microorganism interactions that influence antibody-mediated immunoselection of the microbiota.
Figure 3: Potential immunotherapies to modulate antibody-mediated immunoselection in the gut.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank members of the Round laboratory for their critical review of the manuscript. Support for the laboratory comes from University of Utah's seed grant program, NIH innovator award DP2AT008746-01, Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation, Pew Scholars Program, NSF CAREER award (IOS-1253278), Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering and NIAID K22 (AI95375) and NIAID R21 AI109122 to J.L.R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jason L. Kubinak is at the Department of Biology, University of Texas at Arlington, 501 S. Nedderman Drive, Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.,

    Jason L. Kubinak

  2. June L. Round is at the Department of Pathology (Microbiology and Immunology Division), 15 North Medical Drive East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.,

    June L. Round

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Correspondence to Jason L. Kubinak or June L. Round.

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Kubinak, J., Round, J. Do antibodies select a healthy microbiota?. Nat Rev Immunol 16, 767–774 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2016.114

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