ArticleImmunology2021
The human natural anti-αGal antibody targets common pathogens by broad-spectrum polyreactivity.
Article in Immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Anti-Alpha-Gal Antibodies Against Gangliosides: Preliminary Data on a New Autoimmune Target in Alzheimer's Disease Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Isohemagglutinins exhibit synergistic polyreactivity toward Streptococcus pneumoniae surface antigens: implications for broad-spectrum reactivity of human antibodies.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2026Article
- Genomic Analysis of Glycosyltransferases Responsible for Galactose-α-1,3-Galactose Epitopes inVaccines · 2025Article
- Impact of Staphylococcus aureus colonization and skin abscesses on formation of human anti-αGal antibodies.Medical microbiology and immunology · 2025Article
- Removal of natural anti-αGal antibodies elicits protective immunity against Gram-negative bacterial infections.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Where's the Beef? Understanding Allergic Responses to Red Meat in Alpha-Gal Syndrome.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2022Review
- Prospects and Challenges of the Study of Anti-Glycan Antibodies and Microbiota for the Monitoring of Gastrointestinal Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Article
- The importance of polyreactive antibodies in protection against pneumococcal infection.Immunology · 2021Article
- The α-Gal Syndrome and Potential Mechanisms.Frontiers in allergy · 2021Review
- Biosynthesis of α-Gal Epitopes (Galα1-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R) and Their Unique Potential in Future α-Gal Therapies.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2021Review
- Diagnostic Vaccination in Clinical Practice.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Naturally occurring antibodies are abundant in human plasma, but their importance in the defence against bacterial pathogens is unclear. We studied the role of the most abundant of such antibodies, the antibody against terminal galactose-α-1,3-galactose (anti-αGal), in the protection against pneumococcal infections (Streptococcus pneumonia). All known pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides lack terminal galactose-α-1,3-galactose, yet highly purified human anti-αGal antibody of the IgG class reacted with 48 of 91 pneumococcal serotypes. Anti-αGal was found to contain multiple antibody subsets that possess distinct specificities beyond their general reactivity with terminal galactose-α-1,3-galactose. These subsets in concert targeted a wide range of microbial polysaccharides. We found that anti-αGal constituted up to 40% of the total antibody reactivity to pneumococci in normal human plasma, that anti-αGal drives phagocytosis of pneumococci by human neutrophils and that the anti-αGal level was twofold lower in patients prone to pneumococcal infections compared with controls. Moreover, during a 48-year period in Denmark, the 48 anti-αGal-reactive serotypes caused fewer invasive pneumococcal infections (n = 10 927) than the 43 non-reactive serotypes (n = 18 107), supporting protection on the population level. Our findings explain the broad-spectrum pathogen reactivity of anti-αGal and support that these naturally occurring polyreactive antibodies contribute significantly to human protective immunity.
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