Toronto: In a first, researchers have discovered how a brief disruption in the guts of pre-born mice can compromise their adult immunity to rotavirus infection, which kills nearly 2,15,000 humans annually. The scientists, including those from the University of Toronto in Canada, inhibited a natural chemical process in the intestine called the ‘lymphotoxin pathway’ which plays a major role in the development of the immune system.
The findings revealed that this inhibition prevented a robust antibody response in adult mice to rotavirus. According to the researchers, this early disruption limits the ability of the immune system to later trigger and generate production of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies against the virus.
They added that disturbing the pathway also interferes with the functioning of gut cells supporting the antibody response — the mesenteric lymph node stromal cells.
“It was surprising that these non-immune stromal cells were so important to the immune response,” said Jennifer Gommerman, study co-author from the University of Toronto. Disturbing the stromal cells, she said, affected the ability of immune B cells to produce IgA that neutralised rotavirus.
—PTI
