Detection of Plant miRNAs Abundance in Human Breast Milk

Abstract

Breast milk is a natural food and important component of infant nutrition. Apart from the alimentary substances, breast milk contains many important bioactive compounds, including endogenous microRNA molecules (miRNAs). These regulatory molecules were identified in various mammalian biological fluids and were shown to be mostly packed in exosomes. Recently, it was revealed that plant food-derived miRNAs are stably present in human blood and regulate the expression of specific human genes. Since then, the scientific community has focused its efforts on contradicting or confirming this discovery. With the same intention, qRT-PCR experiments were performed to evaluate the presence of five plant food-derived miRNAs (miR166a, miR156a, miR157a, miR172a and miR168a) in breast milk (whole milk and exosomes) from healthy volunteers. In whole milk samples, all examined miRNAs were identified, while only two of these miRNAs were confirmed to be present in exosomes. The plant miRNA concentration in the samples ranged from 4 to 700 fM. Complementary bioinformatics analysis suggests that the evaluated plant miRNAs may potentially influence several crucial biological pathways in the infant organism.

Effect of microvesicles from Moringa oleifera containing miRNA on proliferation and apoptosis in tumor cell lines

“…These MVs may mediate plant-animal communication, having a role in cross-kingdom regulation processes, by delivering plant sRNAs and miRNAs to mammalian systems 7,[10][11][12][13] .…”

Plant MicroRNAs in Cross-Kingdom Regulation of Gene Expression

“…Generally, this discovery of so-called cross-kingdom regulation of gene expression indicates a potentially therapeutic role for plant miRNAs, which may be of value in medicine; in the near future, many human diseases may be treatable by the consumption of specific plant miRNAs through food. Such findings have been confirmed or partially confirmed by other laboratories or in other experimental settings [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], but have been strongly questioned by other authors in light of a lack of repeatability [ 16 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Many of these very recent reports, from each side of the controversy, have been reviewed and discussed in the papers by Perge et al [ 31 ] and Lukasik et al [ 32 ].…”

Xeno-miRNA in Maternal-Infant Immune Crosstalk: An Aid to Disease Alleviation

“…In contrast, quantification of the miRNA indicated a relatively higher concentration of miR166a and miR168a [whole milk] and miR156a and miR168a [exosomal fraction] in candidates with a non-vegetarian diet. miR168a was significantly lower in vegetarian candidates whereas miR172a was found to be prevalent in non-vegetarian ones (17). Milk-derived XenomiRs may have a different modus operandi in inter-species epigenetic communication.…”