Lack of IgG4 antibody response to carbohydrate antigens in patients with lymphatic filariasis

It has been suggested that humans are genetically restricted from making IgG4 antibody responses to carbohydrate antigens. To test this hypothesis we examined sera from 35 patients with bancroftian filariasis (an infection known to induce very high levels of IgG4 antibodies to the parasite and known to be associated with repeated streptococcal infections) as well as from 15 individuals for their IgG and IgG subclass responses to streptococcal protein [streptolysin-O (SO), deoxyribonuclease B (DB)] and carbohydrate [group A carbohydrate (GAC)] antigens. Levels of IgG antibodies to all three antigens were found to be significantly higher in the filariasis patients compared to normals (P < 0.01), and the subclass composition of these antibodies proved heterogenous. Although responses to all three antigens included IgG1, IgG2 and IgG3 antibodies and although IgG4 responses to the proteins SO and DB were significantly higher in the filariasis patients than in normals (P < 0.001), more importantly there were detectable anti-GAC IgG4 antibodies in either study group. These observations, coupled with our earlier finding of the absence of IgG4 responses to phosphocholine (PC) in patients with lymphatic filariasis, suggest that even the chronic antigenic stimulation of filarial helminth infection, which leads to very prominent IgG4 responses to protein antigens, cannot overcome the genetic restriction in humans for making IgG4 antibodies to carbohydrate antigens, whether of parasite or non-parasite origin.