PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Abbott, Darryl A.
AU  - Rai, Ali T.
AU  - Yang, Aaron
AU  - Cai, Yixuan
AU  - Fabre, Shelcie
AU  - Frazer, Austin J.
AU  - Deschepper, Jacob D.
AU  - Poholek, Amanda C.
AU  - Hand, Timothy W.
TI  - Maternal Immunoglobulin A regulates the development of the neonatal microbiota and intestinal microbiota-specific CD4+ T cell responses
AID  - 10.1101/2024.06.10.598156
DP  - 2024 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2024.06.10.598156
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/06/11/2024.06.10.598156.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2024/06/11/2024.06.10.598156.full
AB  - Breast milk is a complex mixture of nutrients and bioactives that promote infant development and decrease the incidence of chronic inflammatory disease. We investigated the role of one milk-derived bioactive, Immunoglobulin A (IgA) on the developing small intestinal microbiota and immune system. We demonstrate that early in life, milk-derived IgA suppressed colonization of the small intestine by Enterobacteriaceae and regulated the maturation of the small intestinal epithelium and the development of intestinal IL-17-producing CD4+ T cells. Enterobacteriaceae- specific CD4+ T cells, induced in the first weeks of life in the absence of milk-derived IgA, persisted in the intestine as memory T cells that can contribute to inflammatory disease later in life. Our study suggests that milk-derived IgA shapes mucosal immunity by regulating the neonatal microbiota thus preventing the development of long-lived intestinal microbiota-specific T cells.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.