coli O78. Further experiments are needed to determine the optimal timing and route of inoculation.

Furthermore, it will be necessary to test other serovars and challenge routes to confirm that the protection conferred by AESN1331 is efficacious under field conditions, where various serovars of APEC can infect birds. APEC strains that cause respiratory infection and septicemia have also been implicated in cellulitis; Romidepsin mouse thus, immunization with AESN1331 may reduce condemnation and downgrading of carcasses resulting from APEC. Clearly, an inexpensive and effective vaccine against APEC infection in broilers would have a significant economic impact on the industry. We are grateful to Professor Chihiro Sasakawa, Institute for Medical Science, University of Tokyo, for the gift of E. coli SM10λpir and pCVD442 and for advice regarding suicide vector selection technique; to Dr. Tetsuo Nunoya and Dr. Akira Iwata for reviewing the manuscript;

and to Dr. Kunio Doi for excellent support. We also thank Yuji Kuroyama, Tamotsu Sato, Kouji Toriumi and our staff for technical assistance. None of the authors of this paper has any financial or personal relationship with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper. BTK inhibitor “
“Antibodies are well known for their role in humoral immunity, and their prominent involvement in the protection afforded by successful vaccines against infections. A less appreciated function

of antibodies is their capacity to dampen the autoimmune responses associated with some inflammatory diseases. Nevertheless, this paradoxical activity of antibodies is used to treat patients with autoimmune disease. Preparations of polyclonal serum IgG, which are obtained from pools of thousands of human blood donors and ifenprodil are called intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), are commonly used to treat patients suffering from immunothrombocytopenia. Although of important clinical significance the anti-inflammatory function of polyclonal IgG remains poorly understood. Previous studies have primarily addressed its mode of action in a prophylactic setting. However, IVIg is usually applied therapeutically in the clinic. In a study published in this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Schwab et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2014. 44: 1444–1453] focus specifically on the protective effect of IVIg in a therapeutic setting, in four different mouse models of autoantibody-mediated pathology, in order to better approach the condition in human disease and therapy. This Commentary discusses how their findings have key implications for our understanding, and further deciphering, of the mode of action of this therapy. Antibodies were discovered for their protective roles against microbial infections, and are thought to mediate most of the beneficial effects afforded by licensed vaccines [1].