A new study has found that teeth could preserve antibodies for hundreds of years, allowing scientists to better understand the history of infectious diseases.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham discovered that antibodies extracted from 800-year-old medieval human teeth were still functional. These findings were published in iScience this month.
The main function of antibodies is to recognise antigens such as bacteria and viruses in the body. The medieval antibodies used in the study were found to recognise modern antigens such as the Epstein-Barr virus.
Professor Robert Layfield, who led the research, described this discovery as ‘astonishing’ in a press release.
He said: ‘The realisation that intact, functional antibodies can be purified from skeletal remains in the archaeological record was quite astonishing. Some ancient proteins were known to be stable, but these tend to be ‘structural’ proteins such as collagens and keratins.’
Professor Anisur Rahman, a collaborator from University College London, added: ‘Antibodies are different because we are able to test whether they can still do their job of recognising viruses or bacteria even after hundreds of years.’
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Infectious disease research
These findings provide the potential for further investigation of the impact of infectious diseases on humans throughout history.
Professor Rahman said: ‘In future, it could be possible to look at how antibodies from ancient specimens react to diseases present during those periods, such as the black death.’
The Nottingham team has previously analysed other proteins recovered from bone and tooth matter. This allowed them to identify an ancient form of skeletal disorder, Paget’s disease.
Palaeoproteomics (the study of ancient proteins) could therefore provide scientists with insight into both historical and modern diseases.
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