title: Association of elevated rotavirus-specific antibody titers with HBGA secretor status in Swedish individuals: The FUT2 gene as a putative susceptibility determinant for infection.
abstract: The histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) have recently been suggested to serve as attachment factors for rotavirus VP8* (P-genotype) in vitro and associated with susceptibility in vivo. We thus investigated whether rotavirus antibody titers and genotype specific neutralization titers correlate with HBGA status in Swedish individuals. We investigated the effect of inactivating mutations in the secretor FUT2 (rs601338) and Lewis FUT3 genes (rs28362459, rs3894326, rs812936 and rs778986) on serum IgG antibody titers and neutralizing antibody titers to rotavirus strains of the P[8] and P[6] genotypes in Swedish healthy blood donors and patients with IgA deficiency using genotyping, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and a neutralization assay. Rotavirus-specific serum IgG and neutralizing antibody titers to the Wa strain (G1P[8]), but not to the ST3 (G4P[6]) strain, were significantly higher in secretors (with at least one functional FUT2 gene) than in non-secretors (P<0.001) (with homozygous nonsense mutation in the FUT2 gene). Thus, our results represent that secretors show elevated rotavirus specific serum antibodies, suggesting a higher susceptibility to rotavirus infections, as compared to non-secretors in Sweden.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Karolinska Institute at Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, SE-14186 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gökçe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Günaydın
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Division of Molecular Virology, Medical Faculty, Linköping University, SE-58185 Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nordgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Division of Molecular Virology, Medical Faculty, Linköping University, SE-58185 Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, Karolinska Institute at Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, SE-14186 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: lennart.hammarstrom@ki.se.
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hammarström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D005260:Female; D005647:Fucosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012401:Rotavirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012400:Rotavirus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D013548:Sweden; D000097631:Galactoside 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D001789:Blood Group Antigens; D005647:Fucosyltransferases; D000097631:Galactoside 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase; C019818:3-galactosyl-N-acetylglucosaminide 4-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase
keywords: Antibody response; FUT2; Histo-blood group antigen (HBGA); Lewis; Rotavirus; Secretor