Therapeutic immunoglobulin A antibody for dysbiosis-related diseases

Shinkura, Reiko

Dysbiosis is alterations in the microbial composition compared with a healthy microbiota and often features a reduction in gut microbial diversity and a change in microbial taxa. Dysbiosis, especially in the gut, has also been proposed to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. A body of evidence has shown that intestinal polymeric immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies are important to regulate the gut microbiota as well as to exclude pathogenic bacteria or viral infection such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) at mucosal sites. Since the 1970s, trials for oral administration of therapeutic IgA or IgG have been performed mainly to treat infectious enteritis caused by pathogenic Escherichia coli or Clostridium difficile. However, few of them have been successfully developed for clinical application up to now. In addition to the protective function against intestinal pathogens, IgA is well known to modulate the gut commensal microbiota leading to symbiosis. Nevertheless, the development of therapeutic IgA drugs to treat dysbiosis is not progressing. In this review, the advantages of therapeutic IgA antibodies and the problems for their development will be discussed.