Prenatal antibiotics reduce breast milk IgA and induce dysbiosis in mouse offspring, increasing neonatal susceptibility to bacterial sepsis

Highlight

Antibiotics (Abx) are administered to 20%–30% of pregnant women, but their effects on neonatal immune development are poorly understood. We show that newborn mice born to Abx-treated dams are more susceptible to late-onset sepsis. This susceptibility is linked to lower maternal breast milk immunoglobulin A (IgA), neonatal fecal IgA, and IgA coating of intestinal bacteria,…

Protection from environmental enteric dysfunction and growth improvement in malnourished newborns by amplification of secretory IgA

News

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is a condition associated with malnutrition that can progress to malabsorption and villous atrophy. Severe EED results in linear growth stunting, slowed neurocognitive development, and unresponsiveness to oral vaccines. Prenatal exposure to malnutrition and breast feeding by malnourished mothers replicates EED. Pups are characterized by deprivation of secretory IgA (SIgA) and…