Teeth can preserve antibodies for centuries, enabling the study of human disease history, according to a University of Nottingham study. Functional antibodies have been recovered from an 800 year old tooth that still recognize viral proteins, expanding the field of paleoproteomics. Credit: Robert Liefeld, University of Nottingham
A recent study found that teeth may have the ability to preserve antibodies for centuries. This can provide scientists with a valuable resource for exploring the history of infectious diseases in humans.
Antibodies are proteins that the immune system produces in response to pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. This protein identifies these harmful microbes, allowing the immune system to target and eliminate them from the body.
In the new newspaper you published iScienceAnd Antibodies extracted from an 800-year-old medieval human tooth were found to be stable and still able to recognize viral proteins.
The study led by Professor Robert Liefeld and research engineer Barry Shaw from the University of Nottingham’s School of Life Sciences, in collaboration with Professors Anisur Rahman and Dr Thomas McDonnell from University College London’s Department of Medicine, extends the study of ancient proteins. referred to as paleoproteomics, it has the potential to allow scientists to analyze how human antibody responses have evolved throughout history.
Ancient proteomics can go back in time with ancient proteins that have been successfully identified after being preserved in the tooth enamel of a 1.7-million-year-old ancient rhinoceros and the shell of a 6.5-million-year-old ostrich egg. In this new study, the authors also found preliminary evidence that, like medieval human teeth, mammoth bones some 40,000 years old appear to retain stable antibodies.
The Nottingham team had previously applied this knowledge to analyze other disease-related proteins recovered from archaeological human bones and teeth to enable further research. Identify an ancient and unusual skeletal disorder Paget’s disease.
Professor Liefeld explains: “In discovery science, we expect the unexpected, but the realization that intact and robust antibodies can be purified from the skeletal remains of the archaeological record is astonishing. Some ancient proteins are known to be stable, but tend to be ‘skeleton’ proteins such as collagen and keratin, which are quite inert.”
Professor Rahman added: “Antibodies are different because we can test whether they can still do their job of recognizing viruses or bacteria even after hundreds of years. In this case, we found that antibodies from medieval teeth were able to recognize Epstein-Barr.” the virus that causes glandular fever. In the future, it may be possible to see how antibodies from ancient samples interact with diseases that emerged during that period, such as the Black Death.”
Reference: “Keeping Antibodies Intact Inside Old Teeth” By Barry Shaw, Thomas McDonnell, Elizabeth Radley, Brian Thomas, Lane Smith, Carol Davenport, Sylvia Gonzalez, Anisur Rahman, Rob Liefeld, 9 Aug. 2023, Available Here. iScience.
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107575
2023-08-19 21:59:54
#Scientists #successfully #extracted #stable #antibodies #human #teeth #Middle #Ages #years
