Retention of specific yolk IgY in the human oral cavity

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria emphasises the need for new treatments that can replace traditional antibiotics. Oral immunotherapy with yolk antibodies from hyperimmunised hens is a new promising treatment strategy, primarily for infections in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Several studies show that bacterial and viral infections can be prevented with egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) in a dose-dependent manner. Oral treatment could potentially be used against many frequently encountered diseases (e.g. common cold, tonsillitis and caries). GROUP STUDIED: Healthy volunteers.

We studied the presence of yolk anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa antibodies in saliva from healthy volunteers over time after 1 or 2 minutes' mouth rinse, performed in the evening, with an aqueous IgY antibody preparation. The test persons rinsed the mouth with 8.0ml phosphate buffered saline before gargling with the antibody preparation 8 and 24 hours later. Statistical analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U test.

The antibody titres in the mouth rinses were tested for their specific activity against P. aeruginosa by ELISA.

The next morning there were still active antibodies detected in the saliva from 18 of 19 subjects. After 24 hours, active antibodies could be detected in saliva from only a few of the subjects. A 2-minute mouth rinse resulted in higher mean ELISA absorbance values than a 1-minute rinse.