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IgG antibodies in breast milk help shape infants’ gut bacteria and immunity

Scienmag

Researchers have known for some time that maternal breast milk provides critical nutrients for newborns, and antibodies from mothers vaccinated against a specific disease-causing bacterium or virus can be transferred via breast milk to babies.

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Antibody Structure: All You Ever Wanted – and Needed – to Know

BioSpace

Simply put, an antibody is a large, Y-shaped blood protein produced by plasma cells that the immune system uses to take down pathogens like bacteria – and of course, viruses like SARS-CoV-2.

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Finding the North Star of therapeutic antibodies

Drug Discovery World

She speaks with Megan Thomas about the future for Janssen’s investigational medicine nipocalimab and antibody therapeutics at large. This is a fully human monoclonal antibody (mAb) which selectively binds to the FcRn receptor with high-affinity and blocks it, thus leading to a decrease in IgG autoantibodies.

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When the body's B cell training grounds stay open after hours

Medical Xpress

If B cells are the munitions factories of the immune system, manufacturing antibodies to neutralize harmful pathogens, then the tiny biological structures known as germinal centers are its weapons-development facilities.

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Gut microbes shape our antibodies before we are infected by pathogens

Scienmag

Credit: Courtesy of Stephanie Ganal-Vonarburg B cells are white blood cells that develop to produce antibodies. These antibodies, or immunoglobulins, can bind to harmful foreign particles (such as viruses or disease-causing bacteria) to stop them invading and infecting the body’s cells.

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Adding antibodies to enhance photodynamic therapy for viral and bacterial disease

Scienmag

Advancing PDT as a rapid response to pandemics Credit: Vladislav Yakovlev/Texas A&M University WASHINGTON, May 18, 2021 — The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the pressing need to mitigate a fast-developing virus as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are growing at alarming rates worldwide.

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Maternal Antibodies: How Allergies Can be Passed from Mothers to Children

XTalks

It has long been known that mothers greatly influence the development of the growing fetus by not only providing nutrients through the placenta, but also a growing list of biological elements including beneficial antibodies, gut bacteria and now, allergies. They reported their findings last week in the journal Science.