AUTHOR=Ruiz Lorena , Espinosa-Martos Irene , García-Carral Cristina , Manzano Susana , McGuire Michelle K. , Meehan Courtney L. , McGuire Mark A. , Williams Janet E. , Foster James , Sellen Daniel W. , Kamau-Mbuthia Elizabeth W. , Kamundia Egidioh W. , Mbugua Samwel , Moore Sophie E. , Kvist Linda J. , Otoo Gloria E. , Lackey Kimberly A. , Flores Katherine , Pareja Rossina G. , Bode Lars , Rodríguez Juan M. TITLE=What’s Normal? Immune Profiling of Human Milk from Healthy Women Living in Different Geographical and Socioeconomic Settings JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00696 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2017.00696 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Human milk provides a very wide range of nutrients and bioactive components, including immune factors, human milk oligosaccharides, and a commensal microbiota. These factors are essential for interconnected processes including immunity programming and the development of a normal infant gastrointestinal microbiome. Newborn immune protection mostly relies on maternal immune factors provided through milk. However, studies dealing with an in-depth profiling of the different immune compounds present in human milk and with the assessment of their natural variation in healthy women from different populations are scarce. In this context, the objective of this work was the detection and quantification of a wide array of immune compounds, including innate immunity factors (IL1β, IL6, IL12, INFγ, TNFα), acquired immunity factors (IL2, IL4, IL10, IL13, IL17), chemokines (IL8, Groα, MCP1, MIP1β), growth factors [IL5, IL7, epidermal growth factor (EGF), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor, TGFβ2], and immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM), in milk produced by healthy women of different ethnicities living in different geographic, dietary, socioeconomic, and environmental settings. Among the analyzed factors, IgA, IgG, IgM, EGF, TGFβ2, IL7, IL8, Groα, and MIP1β were detected in all or most of the samples collected in each population and, therefore, this specific set of compounds might be considered as the “core” soluble immune factors in milk produced by healthy women worldwide. This approach may help define which immune factors are (or are not) common in milk produced by women living in various conditions, and to identify host, lifestyle, and environmental factors that affect the immunological composition of this complex biological fluid.

Clinical Trial Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT02670278.