Our new preprint was released today on bioRxiv! Interactions between the gut microbiome and mucosal immunoglobulins A, M and G in the developing infant gut1 utilized the TEDDY study cohort2 to investigate antibody dynamics during infancy.

By measuring the profiles of IgA, IgM, and IgG in the developing gut, we found that all antibodies decreased in concentration with age, but were augmented by breastmilk feeding. The microbiota coated with either IgA or IgM were consistently enriched by Bifidobacteria and Enterobacteriaceae species, while IgG levels instead correlated with Haemophilus species.

This work will serve as a baseline reference for investigating children’s gut microbiomes during infancy and highlights Ig-microbiome interactions as a useful tool for tracking microbiome immune sensing and development during infancy.

1Janzon, A., Goodrich, J.K., Koren, O., the TEDDY Study Group, Waters, J.L., and Ley, R.E. (2019) Interactions between the gut microbiome and mucosal immunoglobulins A, M and G in the developing infant gut. bioRxiv: https://doi.org/10.1101/637959.

2Hagopian, W.A., Lernmark, Å., Rewers, M.J., Simell, O.G., She, J., Ziegler, A.G., Krischer, J.P., Akolkar, B. (2006) TEDDY – The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young: An observational clinical trial. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1079(1): https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1375.049.