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Infection and Immunity, September 1998, p. 4283-4289, Vol. 66, No. 9
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Humoral Immunity to Commensal Oral Bacteria in Human Infants: Salivary Antibodies Reactive with Actinomyces naeslundii Genospecies 1 and 2 during Colonization

Michael F. Cole,1,* Stacey Bryan,1 Mishell K. Evans,1 Cheryl L. Pearce,1 Michael J. Sheridan,1 Patricia A. Sura,1 Raoul Wientzen,2 and George H. W. Bowden3

Departments of Microbiology and Immunology1 and Pediatrics,2 Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, D.C. 20007, and Department of Oral Biology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E OW2, Canada3

Received 25 February 1998/Returned for modification 16 April 1998/Accepted 26 June 1998

The secretory immune response in saliva to colonization by Actinomyces naeslundii genospecies 1 and 2 was studied in 10 human infants from birth to 2 years of age. Actinomyces species were not recovered from the mouths of the infants until approximately 4 months after the eruption of teeth. However, low levels of secretory immunoglobulin A1 (SIgA1) and SIgA2 antibodies reactive with whole cells of A. naeslundii genospecies 1 and 2 were detected within the first month after birth. Although there was a fivefold increase in the concentration of SIgA between birth and age 2 years, there were no differences between the concentrations of SIgA1 and SIgA2 antibodies reactive with A. naeslundii genospecies 1 and 2 over this period. When the concentrations of SIgA1 and SIgA2 antibodies reactive with whole cells of A. naeslundii genospecies 1 and 2 were normalized to the concentrations of SIgA1 and SIgA2 in saliva, the A. naeslundii genospecies 1- and 2-reactive SIgA1 and SIgA2 antibodies showed a significant decrease from birth to 2 years of age. The fine specificities of A. naeslundii genospecies 1- and 2-reactive SIgA1 and SIgA2 antibodies were examined by Western blotting of envelope proteins. Similarities in the molecular masses of proteins recognized by SIgA1 and SIgA2 antibodies, both within and between subjects over time, were examined by cluster analysis and showed considerable variability. Taken overall, our data suggest that among the mechanisms Actinomyces species employ to persist in the oral cavity are the induction of a limited immune response and clonal replacement with strains differing in their antigen profiles.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rm. S.E. 308A, Med Dent Bldg., 3900 Reservoir Rd., N.W., Washington, DC 20007. Phone: (202) 687-1817. Fax: (202) 687-4973. E-mail: colem{at}gunet.georgetown.edu.

Infection and Immunity, September 1998, p. 4283-4289, Vol. 66, No. 9
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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