From “Serum Sickness” to “Xenosialitis”: Past, Present, and Future Significance of the Non-human Sialic Acid Neu5Gc

Conclusions and Perspectives
In this review, we have discussed important milestones from the early description of “Serum-sickness” as being due to antibodies directed against Neu5Gc epitopes all the way to the present-day therapeutic implications of these antibodies in cancer therapy. Some of these milestones have been represented in a concise timeline (Figure 6). While the “Xenosialitis” hypothesis is well-supported in the human-like mouse models, it has yet to be conclusively proven in humans. It remains to be seen if “Xenosialitis” plays a role in other uniquely-human diseases.

FIGURE 6
Figure 6. Timeline detailing important discoveries related to Neu5Gc and anti-Neu5Gc antibodies. Adopted and modified from Samraj et al. (65).

There also remain certain unresolved complexities of food sources of Neu5Gc and their propensity for metabolic incorporation. It is noteworthy that processed red meat is much more closely associated with disease risk than red meat per se. This is usually explained on the basis of preservatives added to process red meat. However, the same preservatives are added to other foods but are not associated with the same disease risks. One possible explanation is that the predigested nature of the processed food enhances absorption and incorporation of Neu5Gc. In this regard, there is currently no assessment of the relative impact of different foods and food processing on absorption in general. What is...

Source: Frontiers in Immunology - April 16, 2019 Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research