Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 12, 2025
IgY Technology: Extraction of Chicken Antibodies from Egg Yolk by Polyethylene Glycol PEG Precipitation
Published on: May 1, 2011
Passive immunotherapy using chicken egg yolk antibody (IgY) against diarrheagenic E. coli: A systematic review and
Mukunthan Karthikeyan1, Srichandrasekar Thuthikkadu Indhuprakash2, Gayathri Gopal2
1Department of Biotechnology, School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed-to-be-University, Thanjavur 613401, Tamil Nadu, India.
Background:
Animal diarrhea due to diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) has been a major concern in the field of livestock farming leading to a severe loss of domesticated animals. This systematic review aims to analyze medical shreds of evidence available in the literature and to discover the effect of IgY in treatment and protection against E. coli diarrhea.
Methods And Results:
Research reports that aimed to evaluate the effect of IgY against E. coli diarrhea were searched and collected from several databases (Science Direct, Springer link, Wiley, T&F). The collected studies were screened based on the inclusion criteria. 19 studies were identified and included in the meta-analysis. The pooled relative risk ratios were calculated for the studies and found to be statistically significant to support the therapeutic effect of IgY against E. coli diarrhea but the 95% confidence interval of a majority of studies includes a relative risk of 1. This variability between the effect of IgY in the overall estimate and individual studies accounts due to the presence of methodological heterogeneity. In addition, subgroup analysis revealed the grounds for heterogeneity.
Conclusions:
This systematic review and meta-analysis provide concrete evidence for the favorable effect of IgY as a prophylactic and therapeutic modality against E. coli diarrhea. Yet, more research pieces of evidence with standardized animal studies aimed to utilize IgY against E. coli are vital. Further studies and trials on human subjects could open new perspectives in the application IgY as a therapeutic agent.
Related Concept Videos
01:15Transcytosis of IgG
IgG molecules from a mother undergo transcytosis starting around 13 weeks of gestation. The amount of IgG transferred and entering the fetal blood circulation increases with...
01:17Drugs for Treatment of Diarrhea-Predominant IBS
Two specific drugs used in the treatment are alosetron (Lotronex) and eluxadoline (Viberzi). Alosetron, a 5-HT3 antagonist, works by slowing the movement of stools in the gut, reducing bowel...