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Secretory IgA from submucosal glands does not compensate for its airway surface deficiency in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

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Abstract

Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) reaches the airway lumen by local transcytosis across airway epithelial cells or with tracheobronchial submucosal gland secretions. In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), deficiency of SIgA on the airway surface has been reported. However, reduction of SIgA levels in sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid has not been consistently observed. To explain this discrepancy, we analyzed BAL fluid and lung tissue from patients with COPD and control subjects. Immunohistochemical analysis of large and small airways of COPD patients showed that MUC5AC is the predominant mucin expressed by airway epithelial cells, whereas MUC5B is expressed in submucosal glands of large airways. Dual immunostaining with anti-IgA and anti-MUC5B antibodies showed reduction of IgA on the airway surface as well as accumulation of IgA within MUC5B-positive luminal mucus plugs, suggesting that luminal SIgA originates from submucosal glands in COPD patients. We found that the concentration of SIgA in BAL is inversely correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) in COPD, but that the ratio of SIgA/MUC5B is a better predictor of FEV1, particularly in patients with moderate COPD. Together, these findings suggest that SIgA production by submucosal glands, which are expanded in COPD, is insufficient to compensate for reduced SIgA transcytosis by airway epithelial cells. Localized SIgA deficiency on the surface of small airways is associated with COPD progression and represents a potential new therapeutic target in COPD.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH NHLBI HL092870, HL085317, HL105479, T32 HL094296, NIH HL088263, NIH HL126176, NIH NCRR UL1 RR024975, NCI U01 CA152662), the Department of Veterans Affairs Merit Review Award 1l01BX002378, and Forest Research Institute grant (DAL-IT-07).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37232-2650, USA

    Rui-Hong Du, Bradley W. Richmond, Timothy S. Blackwell Jr., Pierre P. Massion, Lorraine B. Ware, William E. Lawson, Timothy S. Blackwell & Vasiliy V. Polosukhin

  2. Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Justin M. Cates & Lorraine B. Ware

  3. Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Timothy S. Blackwell

  4. Department of Cancer Biology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Pierre P. Massion & Timothy S. Blackwell

  5. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Pierre P. Massion, William E. Lawson & Timothy S. Blackwell

  6. Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Jae Woo Lee

  7. Department of Pathology, Omsk State Medical Academy, Omsk, Russia

    Alexey V. Kononov

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  1. Rui-Hong Du
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  2. Bradley W. Richmond
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  3. Timothy S. Blackwell Jr.
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  4. Justin M. Cates
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  7. Jae Woo Lee
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  8. Alexey V. Kononov
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  9. William E. Lawson
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  10. Timothy S. Blackwell
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  11. Vasiliy V. Polosukhin
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Correspondence to Vasiliy V. Polosukhin.

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Du, RH., Richmond, B.W., Blackwell, T.S. et al. Secretory IgA from submucosal glands does not compensate for its airway surface deficiency in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Virchows Arch 467, 657–665 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-015-1854-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-015-1854-0

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