天然母体免疫保护新生儿免受大肠杆菌败血症的侵害，这一成果由辛辛那提大学医学院Sing Sing Way研究组经过不懈努力而取得。相关论文于2026年3月11日发表在《自然》杂志上。

在这里，研究小组表明患有大肠杆菌败血症的新生儿选择性地减少了识别大肠杆菌的垂直转移天然抗体，机制上解释了它们对感染的易感性。补充的临床前研究表明，益生菌大肠杆菌Nissle 1917 (EcN)在受孕前的肠道定植会引发抗大肠杆菌免疫球蛋白G（IgG）抗体，这些抗体对导致新生儿败血症的临床分离株具有广泛的交叉反应性，从而克服了新生小鼠的固有易感性。外膜蛋白A （OmpA）是母体IgG的靶标，也是EcN定植诱导的血清学免疫原性所必需的。在垂直转移到新生儿后，定植引发的抗大肠杆菌IgG通过调理作用独特地保护他们免受感染，这需要补体和IgG Fc受体。

与未感染的性别和胎龄匹配的健康对照婴儿的标本相比，出生后一天收集的100例大肠杆菌败血症婴儿的干血斑标本显示，对合并的大肠杆菌临床分离株和OmpA的IgG滴度持续降低，同时IgG依赖的抗菌作用受损。总之，这些结果表明，新生儿的自然感染敏感性是有效地挽救抗e。并确定病原体靶向垂直转移免疫缺陷是新生儿严重侵袭性感染的主要危险因素。

据介绍，大肠杆菌是新生儿败血症的主要致病菌，每1000名活产婴儿中约有1人感染。然而，由于大肠杆菌在出生后不久就开始定植，以及新生儿宿主防御成熟的缺陷，另一种考虑是为什么感染没有更频繁地发生。

附：英文原文

Title: Natural maternal immunity protects neonates from Escherichia coli sepsis

Author: Diep, Raymond E., Adhikari, Ujjwal, Gokce Tezel, Kubra, Pham, Giang, Burrell, Allison R., Staat, Mary A., Nhu, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Phan, Minh-Duy, Peters, Kate M., Schembri, Mark A., Saunders, Scott H., Haslam, David B., Erickson, John J., Chavez-Bueno, Susana, Way, Sing Sing

Issue&Volume: 2026-03-11

Abstract: Escherichia coli is a leading cause of neonatal sepsis, with infection occurring in approximately one in every 1,000 live births1,2. However, with E. coli colonization beginning soon after birth3,4,5 and defects in neonatal host defence maturation6,7,8,9, an alternative consideration is why infection does not occur even more frequently. Here we show that newborn babies with E. coli sepsis have selectively reduced vertically transferred natural antibodies that recognize E. coli, mechanistically explaining their susceptibility to infection. Complementary preclinical studies show that preconceptual intestinal colonization with probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN)10 primes anti-E. coli immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies with broad cross-reactivity to clinical isolates responsible for neonatal sepsis that override the inherent susceptibility of neonatal mice. Outer membrane protein A (OmpA) is a target of maternal IgG and is also essential for EcN colonization-induced serological immunogenicity. Upon vertical transfer to neonates, colonization-primed anti-E. coli IgG uniquely protects against infection via opsonization, requiring both complement and IgG Fc receptors. Compared with specimens from sex and gestational age-matched healthy control babies without infection, dried blood spot specimens collected one day after birth from 100 babies with E. coli sepsis show consistently reduced IgG titres to pooled E. coli clinical isolates and OmpA, along with impaired IgG-dependent antibacterial opsonization. Together, these results demonstrate that natural infection susceptibility of neonates is efficiently rescued by anti-E. coli IgG and identify defects in pathogen-targeted vertically transferred immunity as a primary risk factor for severe invasive infection in newborn babies.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10225-z

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10225-z