About Florence M Rollwagen Expertise I can answer questions in biology, microbiology and immunology on the undergraduate or graduate level. I can also address medical and health concerns regarding alternative medicine, autoimmune diseases (lupus, MS) liver disease and intestinal problems.
Experience I have over 20 years experience in research and teaching at the medical/graduate level, and 5 years teaching college biology and microbiology. My expertise is in microbiology and immunology, specifically the biology of cytokines and soluble immune response modifiers. I also carried out original research in blood substitutes and shock/trauma.
Organizations American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Publications Journal of Experimental Medicine, Journal of Immunology, Cytokine, Shock, Experimental Hematology
Education/Credentials BS biology 1966
MS biology 1968
PhD immunology 1979
Question Hello, Would it be possible to develop some sort of vaccine or treatment that would stay in our bodies permanently that would dissolve a bacteria biofilm immediately upon its creation? Then antibodies could puncture the bacteria keeping humans less sick.
Answer Hi again, Bryan: Bacterial biofilms are almost universal, occurring in nature on rocks, leaves and boats. They also occur in infectious diseases, such as gingivitis, implanted devices such as IUDs, catheters and heart valves. They are also implicated in urinary tract infections, among other chronic infections.
The bacteria secrete the biofilm, and other organisms (or species of bacteria in the body) come and live in the biofilm and contribute to its structure. The matrix is a kind of extracellular polymer called exopolysaccharide. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exopolysaccharide)
Because each organism secretes a slightly different biofilm, the antigenic variation alone would preclude some kind of universal vaccine. Again, you would have to ensure that the antibodies produced in response to the vaccine got to the right place. For external structures, it would have to be IgA, which is notoriously hard to direct, for indwelling catheters, for example, an IgG antibody would do the trick.
Second, do we know that the glycans produced in the biofilms are not antigenically similar to some produced by human cells? The antibody can't distinguish between bacterial biofilms and those secreted by host cells.
