2002/12/12 by Paul Wentworth, Jonathan E. McDunn, Anita D. Wentworth +10 · 3 citations
Chemistry · Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Antibody #Bacteria #Biochemistry #Biology #Catalysis #Chemistry #Hydrogen peroxide #Immunology #Inflammation #Medical and Biological Ozone Research #Microbiology #Neutrophil, Myeloperoxidase and Oxidative Mechanisms #Nitric Oxide and Endothelin Effects #Oxidative stress #Ozone #Reactive oxygen species #Respiratory burst
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1077642
openalex publication_date 2002/12/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Recently, we showed that antibodies catalyze the generation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from singlet molecular oxygen (1O2*) and water. Here, we show that this process can lead to efficient killing of bacteria, regardless of the antigen specificity of the antibody. H2O2 production by antibodies alone was found to be not sufficient for bacterial killing. Our studies suggested that the antibody-catalyzed water-oxidation pathway produced an additional molecular species with a chemical signature similar to that of ozone. This species is also generated during the oxidative burst of activated human neutrophils and during inflammation. These observations suggest that alternative pathways may exist for biological killing of bacteria that are mediated by potent oxidants previously unknown to biology.