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IgG transport across mucosal barriers by neonatal Fc receptor for IgG and mucosal immunity

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Abstract

Mucosal secretions of the human gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genital tracts contain significant quantities of IgG. The neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) plays a major role in regulating host IgG levels and transporting IgG and associated antigens across polarized epithelial barriers. The FcRn can then recycle the IgG/antigen complex back across the intestinal barrier into the lamina propria for processing by dendritic cells and presentation to CD4+ T cells in regional organized lymphoid structures. FcRn, through its ability to secrete and absorb IgG, thus integrates luminal antigen encounters with systemic immune compartments and, as such, provides essential host defense and immunoregulatory functions at the mucosal surfaces.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported in part by the Research Fellowships from Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (MY) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant DK53056 (RSB and WIL), the Harvard Digestive Diseases Center (Grant P30; RSB and WIL), NIH DK51362 (RSB), and NIH DK44319 (RSB).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Medical Science in Gastroenterology, ICMRT, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650-0017, Japan

    Masaru Yoshida, Atsuhiro Masuda, Tetsuya Takagawa, Hiromu Kutsumi & Takeshi Azuma

  2. Gastroenterology Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Timothy T. Kuo, Kanna Kobayashi, Steven M. Claypool & Richard S. Blumberg

  3. Gastrointestinal Cell Biology, Department of Medicine, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Wayne I. Lencer

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  1. Masaru Yoshida
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Correspondence to Masaru Yoshida.

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Yoshida, M., Masuda, A., Kuo, T.T. et al. IgG transport across mucosal barriers by neonatal Fc receptor for IgG and mucosal immunity. Springer Semin Immun 28, 397–403 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00281-006-0054-z

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