Immunomodulatory properties of milk

Abstract

There is increasing commercial interest in the production of functional foodstuffs which have health-promoting properties. Over the last five to ten years, significant progress has been made in the identification and characterisation of bovine milk components that can affect the function of the immune system. This review outlines the major components of bovine milk that have been shown to modulate immune function, and discusses experimental approaches to the identification of various facets of the immune response that are known to be affected by milkderived proteins.

Induction of a Humoral Immune Response following anEscherichia coliO157:H7 Infection with an Immunomodulatory Peptidic Fraction Derived fromLactobacillus helveticus-Fermented Milk

“…L. helveticus R389 (33) was maintained in BBL MRS broth medium for lactobacilli (Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, Md.) and grown to stationary phase at 37°C for 17 h. Lactobacillus growth was determined by counting CFU after plating serial dilutions on MRS agar (Becton Dickinson) and incubation at 37°C for 48 h. Enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 (ATCC 35150) was grown with agitation (100 rpm) in Difco tryptic soy broth (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, Mich.) at 37°C for 7 h using 2% of an overnight culture and resuspended in sterile phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) to the desired concentration of 10 10 CFU/ml. Milk fermentation.…”

Association between a polymorphism of the α-lactalbumin gene and milk production traits in Chinese Holstein cows

“…α-LA is a small, acidic, molten-globule, cation-binding milk protein, which has several important biological functions, such as lactose synthesis and Ca 2+ binding (Lonnerdal and Glazier, 1985;Bleck et al, 1998). In addition, α-LA has been linked to antimicrobial activity (Pellegrini et al, 1999;Kilara and Panyam, 2003), reduction of stress (Markus et al, 2000), immunomodulation (Brody, 2000;Cross and Gill, 2000), regulation of cell growth (Sternhagen and Allen, 2001), antiulcer activity (Matsumoto et al, 2001), and antihypertensive activity (Fitzgerald et al, 2004). However, its most important function is related to milk productivity in cows (Bleck and Bremel, 1993).…”

Factors affecting immunoglobulin concentration in colostrum of healthy Holstein cows immediately after delivery

“…Due to its high nutritive and immunological value, bovine milk and colostrum are used to feed humans and animals (Cross & Gill 2000, He et al 2001. Colostrum has an extremely important role in local and systemic immunity transfer in ruminants because the synepitheliochorial placenta of bovines prevents maternal antibodies from reaching the fetus during pregnancy (Salmon 1999).…”