Antibodies in breast milk help newborn mice tolerate good gut microbes
Thursday, May 5, 2016 - 11:00
in Health & Medicine
From the moment of birth, a newborn's gut is colonized by a diverse array of microbes that aid digestion and boost immunity. But it has not been clear how the newborn's immune system learns to tolerate the majority of these foreign species rather than attacking them as hostile invaders. In a mouse study published May 5 in Cell, researchers reveal that immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies acquired from breast milk help dampen immune responses to newly acquired microbes early in life.