Biomaterial Database

Egg yolk antibodies for passive immunity. 2012

Jennifer Kovacs-Nolan, and Yoshinori Mine

Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.

The avian egg contains all of the necessary nutrients and growth factors required for the developing embryo, including antibodies that are transported from the blood of the hen into the egg yolk to provide immunity to the chick. Since the discovery of egg yolk antibodies, now called immunoglobulin Y (IgY), in the late 1800s, this process has been harnessed to produce antigen-specific yolk antibodies for numerous applications in the medical and research fields, including in areas such as diagnostics and proteomics. However, one of the most valuable and promising areas of IgY research is its use for passive immunization to treat and prevent human and animal diseases. The following review covers the key features and advantages of IgY and the production and purification of IgY from the egg yolk, as well as highlights some of the most promising applications of egg yolk antibodies in human and veterinary medicine.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007116	Immunization, Passive	Transfer of immunity from immunized to non-immune host by administration of serum antibodies, or transplantation of lymphocytes (ADOPTIVE TRANSFER).	Convalescent Plasma Therapy,Immunoglobulin Therapy,Immunotherapy, Passive,Normal Serum Globulin Therapy,Passive Antibody Transfer,Passive Transfer of Immunity,Serotherapy,Passive Immunotherapy,Therapy, Immunoglobulin,Antibody Transfer, Passive,Passive Immunization,Therapy, Convalescent Plasma,Transfer, Passive Antibody
D007136	Immunoglobulins	Multi-subunit proteins which function in IMMUNITY. They are produced by B LYMPHOCYTES from the IMMUNOGLOBULIN GENES. They are comprised of two heavy (IMMUNOGLOBULIN HEAVY CHAINS) and two light chains (IMMUNOGLOBULIN LIGHT CHAINS) with additional ancillary polypeptide chains depending on their isoforms. The variety of isoforms include monomeric or polymeric forms, and transmembrane forms (B-CELL ANTIGEN RECEPTORS) or secreted forms (ANTIBODIES). They are divided by the amino acid sequence of their heavy chains into five classes (IMMUNOGLOBULIN A; IMMUNOGLOBULIN D; IMMUNOGLOBULIN E; IMMUNOGLOBULIN G; IMMUNOGLOBULIN M) and various subclasses.	Globulins, Immune,Immune Globulin,Immune Globulins,Immunoglobulin,Globulin, Immune
D002645	Chickens	Common name for the species Gallus gallus, the domestic fowl, in the family Phasianidae, order GALLIFORMES. It is descended from the red jungle fowl of SOUTHEAST ASIA.	Gallus gallus,Gallus domesticus,Gallus gallus domesticus,Chicken
D004530	Egg Yolk	Cytoplasm stored in an egg that contains nutritional reserves for the developing embryo. It is rich in polysaccharides, lipids, and proteins.	Egg Yolks,Yolk, Egg,Yolks, Egg
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D030161	Avian Proteins	Proteins obtained from species of BIRDS.	Avian Protein,Bird Protein,Bird Proteins,Protein, Avian,Protein, Bird,Proteins, Avian,Proteins, Bird