Naslov (eng)

Report on lower anti-pneumococcus IgG1 levels in men, especially over the age of fifty

Autor

Knežević, Sanja
Kosanović, Dejana
Živković, Irena
Ilić, Vesna
Dragačević, Luka
Hajduković, Ljiljana
Minić, Rajna

Publisher

Opis (eng)

Streptococcus pneumoniae, the pneumococcus is an important human pathogen. It possesses a capsule which has been thoroughly studied, since it is an important factor in virulence. In this work S. pneumoniae ATCC 6301, belonging to Serogroup 1, was used as a model organism to determine the levels of different IgG isotypes specific to this bacterium in different sex and age groups. For this purpose an in‐house ELISA was used. Although IgG2 is a major antibacterial antibody subclass, acting against polysaccharide antigens, the level of pneumococcus‐specific IgG2 did not differ from the level of IgG2 specific to several tested lactic acid bacteria (LAB). On the other hand pneumococcus specific IgG1 level was significantly higher to the level of LAB specific IgG1. This is most likely a consequence of previous encounters with pathogenic pneumococcal microorganism and a distinguishing characteristic of this encounter. By analyzing different sex and age groups we found significantly lower anti‐pneumococcus IgG1 levels in men, implying lower protection against invasion with pneumococcus, which possibly translates to other encapsulated bacteria. The Covid‐19 pandemic has identified males as being at increased risk of hospital admission and death and lower levels of anti‐pneumococcus antibodies might be a contributing factor. Hence, we advocate the immunization with conjugate pneumococcal vaccines in male individuals, especially over the age of 50.

Jezik

engleski

Datum

2021

Licenca

© All rights reserved

Predmet

Adaptive immunity, ageing, antibody

Deo kolekcije (1)

o:25140

Radovi Instituta za primenu nuklearne energije - INEP