A team of researchers affiliated with institutions in the U.S., Cambodia and France has found an association between antibody afucosylated immunoglobulin levels in the blood and the severity of dengue—and possibly COVID-19. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their study of the antibodies and what they learned about them. Ruklanthi de Alwis and Eng Eong Ooi with the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have published a Perspectives piece in the same journal issue outlining prior work involved in studying the antibody Fc domain and the work done by the team in this new effort.
As de Alwis and Ooi note, most research involved in studying antigens is focused on the “V” part of “Y” shaped antigen molecules, while little has been done with the tail, which is called the Fc domain. In this new effort, the researchers looked at sugar molecules associated with the Fc domain and their connection to the severity of dengue and COVID-19.
In humans, antibodies are created by B cells—the most abundant kind is immunoglobulin G (IgG). Prior research has shown that patients with severe dengue symptoms tend to have an associated increase in afucosylated (a state of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity) IgG1 glycoforms (types of saccharides) in their blood. Until now, it was not known if such increases came about due to dengue infection or if it was a preexisting condition that may have led to more severe symptoms of the disease.
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