Abstract
Secretory immunoglobulins are specialized molecular forms of immunoglobulins, adapted to be transported into the moist environment of mucosal surfaces and external secretions. Most secretory immunoglobulin is of the IgA class. The development of this specialized molecular form of antibody is the most striking adaptation made in the immune system to the specialized circumstances of the body’s mucosae, but it is not the only one. The immune system at the different mucosal surfaces — gut, respiratory, urogenital, mammary, etc., — is linked so that a common mucosal immune system can be recognized, which is in many ways separate and distinct from the systemic immune system of blood, bone marrow, lymph nodes and spleen1. This chapter will outline some of the characteristics of the mucosal immune system, relying largely on illustrations from the gastrointestinal mucosa, before describing secretory immunoglobulins in detail, and describing the abnormalities in mucosal immunity that lead to or arise in disease.
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