Effects of specific egg yolk immunoglobulin on pan-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

• Published in: Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy Vol. 95; pp. 1734 - 1742
• Main Authors: Shi, Huaying, Zhu, Jie, Zou, Boyang, Shi, Lei, Du, Linying, Long, Yayi, Wang, Huaxin, Xu, Hong, Zhen, Yuhong, Sun, Lidan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: France Elsevier Masson SAS 01.11.2017
• Subjects: A. baumannii; Acinetobacter baumannii - drug effects; Acinetobacter Infections - drug therapy; Acinetobacter Infections - microbiology; Acute Disease; Acute pneumonia; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - administration & dosage; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Cefoperazone - administration & dosage; Cefoperazone - pharmacology; Dexamethasone - pharmacology; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; Egg Yolk; Egg yolk immunoglobulin; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Immunoglobulins - administration & dosage; Immunoglobulins - pharmacology; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Interleukin-1beta - metabolism; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Pan-drug-resistance; Pneumonia, Bacterial - drug therapy; Pneumonia, Bacterial - microbiology; Sulbactam - administration & dosage; Sulbactam - pharmacology; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - metabolism; Pan-drug-resistance; Acute pneumonia; A. baumannii; Egg yolk immunoglobulin
• ISSN: 0753-3322; 1950-6007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2017.09.112

With the growing emergence of pan-drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (PDR-Ab) strains in clinical, new strategies for the treatment of PDR-Ab infections are urgently needed. Egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) as a convenient and inexpensive antibody has been widely applied to the therapy of infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to produce IgY specific to PDR-Ab and investigate its antibacterial effects in vitro and in vivo. IgYs specific to two PDR-Ab strains were produced by immunizing hens with formaldehyde inactivated PDR-Ab cells and isolated from yolks with a purity of 90% by water dilution, salt precipitations and ultrafiltration. IgYs showed high titers when subjected to an ELISA and inhibited the growth of PDR-Ab in a dose-dependent manner in liquid medium. Scanning electron microscopy assay showed structural modification and aggregation of PDR-Ab treated with specific IgYs. Freshly cultured PDR-Ab cells were nasally inhaled in BALB/c mice to induce acute pneumonia. The infected mice were intraperitoneally injected with specific IgYs using cefoperazone/sulbactam and dexamethasone as positive controls. The IgYs specific to PDR-Ab lowered the mortality of mice with PDR-Ab-induced acute pneumonia, decreased the level of TNF-α and IL-1β in serum and reduced inflammation in lung tissue. Specific IgY has the potential to be used as a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of A. baumannii-induced infections.