Repeated immunization induces the increase in fucose content on antigen-specific IgG N-linked oligosaccharides

OBJECTIVE: In order to investigate whether repeated immunization induces changes in IgG glycosylation, we analyzed the composition of oligosaccharides on antigen-specific IgGs obtained from mice that received different amounts of immunization boosts. METHODS: Three groups of mice were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) and boosted once, twice, or three times, respectively, with an interval of 1 week. The patterns of oligosaccharides present in anti-OVA specific IgGs were analyzed using lectin-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lectin-blot. RESULTS: The repeated injection of OVA induced both the production of specific IgGs and an increase of fucose content in N-linked oligosaccharides of the IgGs. The lowest IgG fucosylation was observed in mice boosted once, whereas the highest fucosylation rate was observed in mice boosted three times. ELISA assay demonstrated that there was a positive relationship between the fucose content and amount of immunization boosts. CONCLUSIONS: IgG fucosylation increases during repeated immunization with ovalbumin. The alteration of IgG fucosylation may have important biological significance.