Thursday, November 28, 2013

IgA nephropathy question?

  Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is an antibody that plays a critical role in mucosal immunity. More IgA is produced in mucosal linings than all other types of antibody combined;[1] between three and five grams are secreted into the intestinal lumen each day. This accumulates to 75% of the total immunoglobulin produced in the entire body.
  IgA has two subclasses (IgA1 and IgA2) and can exist in a dimeric form called secretory IgA (sIgA). In its secretory form, IgA is the main immunoglobulin found in mucous secretions, including tears, saliva, colostrum and secretions from the genitourinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, prostate and respiratory epithelium. It is also found in small amounts in blood. The secretory component of sIgA protects the immunoglobulin from being degraded by proteolytic enzymes, thus sIgA can survive in the harsh gastrointestinal tract environment and provide protection against microbes that multiply in body secretions. IgA is a poor activator of the complement system, and opsonises only weakly.
  The high prevalence of IgA in mucosal areas is a result of a cooperation between plasma cells that produce polymeric IgA (pIgA), and mucosal epithelial cells that express an immunoglobulin receptor called the polymeric Ig receptor (pIgR). pIgA is released from the nearby activated plasma cells and binds to pIgR. This results in transportation of IgA across mucosal epithelial cells and its cleavage from pIgR for release into external secretions.[5]

  In the blood, IgA interacts with an Fc receptor called FcRI (or CD89), which is expressed on immune effector cells, to initiate inflammatory reactions. Ligation of FcRI by IgA containing immune complexes causes antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), degranulation of eosinophils and basophils, phagocytosis by monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils and eosinophils, and triggering of respiratory burst activity by polymorphonuclear leukocytes

No comments:

Post a Comment