Secretory IgA (SIgA), the predominant class of antibody found in intestinal secretions. While SIgA’s role in protecting the intestinal epithelium from the enteric pathogen and toxins has long been recognized, surprisingly little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which this is achieved. The present review summarizes the current understanding of how SIgA functions to prevent microbial pathogens and toxins from gaining access to the intestinal epithelium. We also discuss recent work from our laboratory examining the interaction of a particular protective monoclonal IgA with Salmonella and propose, based on this work, that SIgA has a previously unrecognized capacity to directly interfere with microbial virulence at mucosal surfaces.

Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) antibodies directed against the O antigen of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)are the primary determinants of mucosal immunity to gram-negative enteric pathogens. However, the underlying mechanisms by which these antibodies interfere with bacterial colonization and invasion of intestinal epithelial cells are not well understood. In this study, we report that Sal4, a protective, anti-O5-specific monoclonal IgA, is a potent inhibitor of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium flagellum-based motility. Using video light microscopy, we observed that Sal4 completely and virtually instantaneously "paralyzed" laboratory and clinical strains of serovar Typhimurium. Sal4-mediated motility arrest preceded and occurred independently of agglutination. Polyclonal anti-LPS IgG antibodies and F(ab) 2 fragments were as potent as was Sal4 at impeding bacterial motility, whereas monovalent Fab fragments were 5-to 10-fold less effective. To determine whether motility arrest can fully account for Sal4's protective capacity in vitro, we performed epithelial cell infection assays in which the requirement for flagellar motility in adherence and invasion was bypassed by centrifugation. Under these conditions, Sal4-treated serovar Typhimurium cells remained noninvasive, revealing that the monoclonal IgA, in addition to interfering with motility, has an effect on bacterial uptake into epithelial cells. Sal4 did not, however, inhibit bacterial uptake into mouse macrophages, indicating that the antibody interferes specifically with Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1)-dependent, but not SPI-1-independent, entry into host cells. These results reveal a previously unrecognized capacity of SIgA to "disarm" microbial pathogens on mucosal surfaces and prevent colonization and invasion of the intestinal epithelium.

ABSTRACTInvasion of intestinal epithelial cells bySalmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium is an energetically demanding process, involving the transfer of effector proteins from invading bacteria into host cells via a specialized organelle known as theSalmonellapathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) type 3 secretion system (T3SS). By a mechanism that remains poorly understood, entry ofS. Typhimurium into epithelial cells is inhibited by Sal4, a monoclonal, polymeric IgA antibody that binds an immunodominant epitope within the O-antigen (O-Ag) component of lipopolysaccharide. In this study, we investigated how the binding of Sal4 to the surface ofS. Typhimurium influences T3SS activity, bacterial energetics, and outer membrane integrity. We found that Sal4 treatment impaired T3SS-mediated translocon formation and attenuated the delivery of tagged effector proteins into epithelial cells. Sal4 treatment coincided with a partial reduction in membrane energetics and intracellular ATP levels, possibly explaining the impairment in T3SS activity. Sal4's effects on bacterial secretion and energetics occurred concurrently with an increase in O-Ag levels in culture supernatants, alterations in outer membrane permeability, and changes in surface ultrastructure, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy. We propose that Sal4, by virtue of its ability to bind and cross-link the O-Ag, induces a form of outer membrane stress that compromises the integrity of theS. Typhimurium cell envelope and temporarily renders the bacterium avirulent.