APPLICATION OF THE EGG YOLK IMMUNOGLOBULIN (IGY) TO GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Abstract

Recently, passive immunotherapy using orally administered hyperimmune chicken immunoglobulins (IgY) has been reported to give various degrees of success against microbial infectious diseases, especially gastrointestinal diseases, in both humans and animals. IgY is employed because large amounts of partially purified IgY can be prepared very easily with low cost, and kept for long periods of time at room temperature as a powder form in an aluminum foil (wheel) bag. In this manuscript, the effects of oral administration of IgY on the infection with Escherichia coli O157 and Vibrio cholerae in mice models have been reported. In addition, a randomized clinical study of IgY with rotavirus-infected children in a Myanmar hospital has been summarized. In E. coli O157 model, the effect of IgYs against formalin-inactivated shiga-like toxins-1 and -2 on mortality of mice challenged intraperitoneally with a lethal dose of these toxins were observed. In V. cholerae, IgYs against the heat- or formalin-killed organisms (O1 and O139) and the recombinant cholera toxin B subunit were prepared, and then their effects on death of suckling mice by cholera, caused by oral injection with the active O1 or O139 cells, were analyzed. In a rotavirus study, the IgY reacting against important human strains with different serotypes was prepared, and its effects on the virus-infected patients were observed. Based on these three different studies, it can be considered that IgY therapy is a useful procedure for preventing and /or treating these diseases.