Health & body · 1979
Do antibodies attached to infected nasal cells appear before free antibodies in babies hospitalized with ?
For , yes: IgA attached to RSV-infected nasal epithelial cells was almost always detected in the first sample, while cell-free anti-RSV IgA first appeared an average of 3.5 days later. The timing differed by antibody class, so this was not a uniform pattern for all antibodies.
Details
To determine the pattern of secretory antibody response, researchers conducted an observational study with serial sampling of 22 infants under 9 months of age who were hospitalized with bronchiolitis or pneumonia due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Using double labeling techniques, they found cell-free antibodies to RSV in secretions belonging to three immunoglobulin classes: immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and immunoglobulin M (IgM). They also found immunoglobulins of all three classes bound to RSV-infected cells shed from the nasal epithelium; these were presumed to be cell-bound antibodies to RSV.
IgA attached to RSV-infected epithelial cells was almost always detected in the first available nasal sample, collected on day 1 or 2 of hospitalization. In contrast, cell-free anti-RSV IgA first appeared an average of 3.5 days later, when viral antigen was disappearing from the secretion.
IgG and IgM attached to RSV-infected cells appeared more irregularly. Early in the illness, the titer of cell-free anti-RSV IgM was often higher than that of IgA, and it declined as the infection resolved. Cell-free anti-RSV IgG was usually present earlier than IgA and rose during convalescence.
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