Clinical applications of bioactive milk components

Abstract

Milk represents a unique resource for translational medicine: It contains a rich pool of biologically active molecules with demonstrated clinical benefits. The ongoing characterization of the mechanistic process through which milk components promote development and immunity has revealed numerous milk-derived compounds with potential applications as clinical therapies in infectious and inflammatory disease, cancer, and other conditions. Lactoferrin is an effective antimicrobial and antiviral agent in high-risk patient populations and a potentially potent adjuvant to chemotherapy in lung cancer. Enteric nutrition formulas supplemented with transforming growth factor b, a milk cytokine, have been shown to promote remission in pediatric Crohn's disease. A number of milk glycans, including human milk oligosaccharides, show promise in preclinical studies as antimicrobial and antiinflammatory agents. While active preclinical investigations of human milk may soon result in large-scale production of human milk molecules, bovine milk components in many instances represent a practical source of bioactive milk compounds for use in clinical trials. This review summarizes current efforts to translate the compounds derived from human and bovine milk into effective clinical therapies. These efforts suggest a common pathway for the translation of milk-derived compounds into clinical applications.

Morphogenesis and maturation of the embryonic and postnatal intestine

“…Nursing mice deficient in IgA are protected from infection by enteric pathogens such as Salmonella typhimurium and Citrobacter rodentium , implying that immunoglobulins are only one part of the multi-faceted protection conferred by milk antimicrobials [207]. Other milk proteins, including lysozyme, lactoferrin, and α-lactalbumin exhibit non-specific anti-microbial properties [208] and may act to limit bacterial overgrowth or impose selective pressures that shape the composition of the gut microbiota in infancy [209]. Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is found at concentrations as high as 1.5 μg/mL in human milk [208,210].…”

“…Other milk proteins, including lysozyme, lactoferrin, and α-lactalbumin exhibit non-specific anti-microbial properties [208] and may act to limit bacterial overgrowth or impose selective pressures that shape the composition of the gut microbiota in infancy [209]. Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) is found at concentrations as high as 1.5 μg/mL in human milk [208,210]. TGF- β has diverse roles regulating immune activity as well as cellular differentiation and proliferation [211], and TGF-β in milk promotes attenuation of the immune response and the induction of antigenic tolerance [202,212].…”

The role of diet in cancer: the epidemiologic link

“…lactoferrin, glycans) may mediate the protective effect of milk for some cancers through their antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antimicrobial properties. 56,57 However, for some other cancer sites some milk constituents may have an adverse effect. There was a limited-suggestive positive association for low fat milk and cheese and the risk of prostate cancer (table I) .…”

Neonatal Gut Microbiota and Human Milk Glycans Cooperate to Attenuate Infection and Inflammation

“…Some of these factors have an age-dependent effect. 15 Primary among them is the ability of HMOSs to regulate early colonization and succession. Plant oligosaccharides may help maintain the microbiota once it is established in early life.…”