Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
mBio. 2011 Oct 11;2(5). doi: 10.1128/mBio.00227-11. Print 2011.
Antibodies have been used in a diagnostic capacity for many diseases and for identifying serotypes within single species of pathogens, notably between the multiple capsular polysaccharide serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae. For many years, the functions of antibodies in infection were thought to be limited to the opsonization of microorganisms followed by phagocytosis and to the fixing of complement. The thought that antibodies could have other functions has emerged only recently. The study by Yano and coworkers from the laboratory of Liise-anne Pirofski published in mBio [M. Yano, S. Gohil, J. R. Coleman, C. Manix, and L.-A. Pirofski, mBio 2(5):e00176-11, 2011] identifies one mechanism whereby nonopsonic antibodies enhance the transformation competence of two S. pneumoniae serotypes, which leads to an increase in genetic exchange and bacterial variability with a resulting population reduction through fratricide. These new and revealing antibody functions will add another chapter to the burgeoning story of the diversity and versatility of the immune response to bacteria.
抗体已被广泛应用于多种疾病的诊断，并用于鉴定同种病原体的血清型，特别是用于鉴定肺炎链球菌的多种荚膜多糖血清型。多年来，人们认为抗体在感染中的作用仅限于对微生物的调理作用，随后是吞噬作用和补体的固定作用。最近才出现了抗体可能具有其他功能的观点。最近，李塞-安妮·皮罗夫斯基（Liise-anne Pirofski）实验室的亚诺（Yano）及其同事在《mBio》杂志上发表的研究[M. Yano、S. Gohil、J. R. Coleman、C. Manix 和 L.-A. Pirofski, mBio 2(5):e00176-11, 2011]确定了一种机制，通过该机制，非调理性抗体增强了两种肺炎链球菌血清型的转化能力，从而增加了遗传交换和细菌变异性，导致群体减少，进而发生自相残杀。这些新的、有启发性的抗体功能将为细菌免疫反应的多样性和多功能性这一日益增长的故事增添新的篇章。
