The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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A correction to this article has been published: J. Exp. Med. 197 (11) 1601
Published online 29 July 2002 doi:10.1084/jem.20020400
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© Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/2002/8/303/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 196, Number 3, August 5, 2002 303-310

Receptor-mediated Immunoglobulin G Transport Across Mucosal Barriers in Adult Life : Functional Expression of FcRn in the Mammalian Lung



Gerburg M. Spiekermann1,4, Patricia W. Finn2,5, E. Sally Ward7, Jennifer Dumont8, Bonny L. Dickinson1,4, Richard S. Blumberg3,5,6 and Wayne I. Lencer1,4,6

1 The Combined Program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Children's Hospital
2 Pulmonary Division, Brigham and Women's Hospitals
3 Gastrointestinal Division, Brigham and Women's Hospitals
4 Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
5 Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
6 Harvard Digestive Disease Center, Boston, MA 02115
7 Center for Immunology and Cancer Immunobiology Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390
8 Syntonix Pharmaceuticals, Waltham, MA 02451

Address correspondence to Wayne I. Lencer, GI Cell Biology, Enders 1220 Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: 617-355-8599; Fax: 617-264-2876; E-mail: wayne.lencer{at}tch.harvard.edu

Mucosal secretions of the human gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genital tracts contain the immunoglobulins (Ig)G and secretory IgA (sIgA) that function together in host defense. Exactly how IgG crosses epithelial barriers to function in mucosal immunity remains unknown. Here, we test the idea that the MHC class I–related Fc-receptor, FcRn, transports IgG across the mucosal surface of the human and mouse lung from lumen to serosa. We find that bronchial epithelial cells of the human, nonhuman primate, and mouse, express FcRn in adult-life, and demonstrate FcRn-dependent absorption of a bioactive Fc-fusion protein across the respiratory epithelium of the mouse in vivo. Thus, IgG, like dimeric IgA, can cross epithelial barriers by receptor-mediated transcytosis in adult animals. These data show that mucosal surfaces that express FcRn reabsorb IgG and explain a mechanism by which IgG may act in immune surveillance to retrieve lumenal antigens for processing in the lamina propria or systemically.

Key Words: FcRn • transcytosis • IgG • epithelial cells • lung


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