Newly discovered and conserved role of IgM against viral infection in an early vertebrate

IgM emerged in jawed vertebrates 500 Mya and remains the most evolutionarily conserved antibody class. However, despite extensive studies on IgM as an ancient antiviral weapon in warm-blooded vertebrates, its role and mechanisms in combating viral infections in early vertebrates remain poorly unders...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2024-11
Main Authors: Kong, Weiguang, Wang, Xinyou, Ding, Guangyi, Yang, Peng, Shi, Yong, Cai, Chang, Yang, Xinyi, Cheng, Gaofeng, Ttakizawa, Fumio, Xu, Zhen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Immunoglobulin M
Immunology
Infections
Mucosal immunity
Vertebrates
Viral infections
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Summary:IgM emerged in jawed vertebrates 500 Mya and remains the most evolutionarily conserved antibody class. However, despite extensive studies on IgM as an ancient antiviral weapon in warm-blooded vertebrates, its role and mechanisms in combating viral infections in early vertebrates remain poorly understood. Here, we found that significant virus-specific sIgM titers were generated in serum and gut mucus of teleost fish that survived infection, and fish lacking sIgM were more susceptible to viral infection. These results challenge the paradigm that IgM and IgT are specialized to systemic and mucosal immunity, respectively. More crucially, we discovered a previously unknown role of sIgM in viral neutralization and clarified the mechanism through which teleost sIgM blocks viral infection by directly targeting viral particles. From an evolutionary perspective, our findings indicate that both primitive and modern sIgM adhere to conserved principles in the development of specialized antiviral immunity.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
ISSN:2692-8205
DOI:10.1101/2024.11.11.622905