Chicken IgY, utilizing the evolutionary advantage.pdf

? World’s Poultry Science Association 2004 World’s Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 60, September 2004 Received for publication April 4, 2004 Accepted for publication May 6, 2004 341 DOI: 10.1079/WPS200422 Chicken IgY: utilizing the evolutionary advantage M. KARLSSON 1 , H. KOLLBERG 2 and A. LARSSON 1 * 1 Department of Medical Sciences, and 2 Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Laying hens are highly cost-effective producers of polyclonal antibodies in comparison with mammals as the antibodies can be purified from egg yolk. The antibodies are called IgY to differentiate them from mammalian IgG antibodies. Avian antibodies represent both a reduction and refinement in animal use. The cost for producing IgY is lower than for mammalian antibodies as chicken housing is cheap and the isolation/separation process is economical, high yielding, uncomplicated and fast. IgY antibodies do not cross-react with Fc receptors, mammalian immunoglobulins such as RF and HAMA or activate the complement system and thereby reducing the cause of false positive results in immunological assays. These properties have also made them attractive for peroral immunotherapy for a variety of gastrointestinal diseases, such as human rotaviruses, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. In the future the IgY technology offers great opportunities to be more widely used in immunotherapy, diagnostics and research. Introduction Antibodies are molecules with high specificity for binding and inactivating foreign substances, such as toxic or antigenic molecules, that are able to invade the body. Due to their high specificity, antibodies have been used for i) diagnostic purposes, ii) cancer diagnosis and therapy, iii) passive immunotherapy against infectious diseases and iv) inactivation of toxic substances (Reilly et al., 1996). Polyclonal antibody production in general requires the use of laboratory animals (rabbits, rats, mice and guinea pigs) or l