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There is no effective therapy for milk allergy. The role of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and probiotics in protection against allergy-related outcomes is still under investigation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the immunomodulative and therapeutic potential of yogurt drinks in cow’s milk allergy (CMA) management. We compared immunoreactivity of α-casein (α-CN), β-casein (β-CN), κ-casein (κ-CN), α-lactalbumin (α-LA), and β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) in 27 yogurt drinks fermented with different basic yogurt cultures, or yogurt cultures enriched with Lactobacillus plantarum and/or Bifidobacterium lactis strains, by competitive ELISA assay. Drinks with the lowest antigenic potential were used as allergoids for CMA therapy. BALB/c mice were sensitized via intraperitoneal injection of α-CN + β-LG mixture with aluminum adjuvant, and gavaged with increasing doses of selected low-immunogenic drinks (YM—basic, or YM-LB—enriched with L. plantarum and B. lactis) to induce tolerance. Milk- or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-dosed mice served as controls. Compared to milk, the immunoreactivity of proteins in drinks increased or decreased, depending on the bacterial sets applied for fermentation. Only a few sets acted synergistically in reducing immunoreactivity. The selected low-immunogenic drinks stimulated allergic mice for profiling Th2 to Th1 response and acquire tolerance, and the effect was greater with YM-LB drink, which during long-lasting interventional feeding strongly increased the secretion of regulatory cytokines, i.e., IL-10 and TGF-β, and IgA and decreased IL-4, IgE, and anti-(α-CN + β-LG) IgG1. The studies revealed variations in the potency of yogurt bacteria to change allergenicity of milk proteins and the need for their strict selection to obtain a safe product for allergy sufferers. The YM-LB drink with reduced antigenic potential may be a source of allergoids used in the immunotherapy of IgE mediated CMA, but further clinical or volunteer studies are required.

Fermented beverages were produced through the milk fermentation (at 37°C and 42°C) by yoghurt bacteria Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus and simultaneous addition of microbial transglutaminase (m-TG). The results proved that the addition of m-TG enzyme and storage at 4°C for 28 days caused a significant reduction in the immunoreactivity of caseins in yoghurt produced at 37°C and did not decreased their sensory quality. The reaction between yoghurt proteins and antibodies towards a-lactalbumin (a-la) and b-lactoglobulin (b-lg) was not observed. The results of yoghurt produced at 42°C were different, and the reduction of j-casein only and the lack of b-lg immunoreactivity was noticed. Statistically significant attributes, which differentiated the sensory profiles of yoghurts, were descriptors of taste (yoghurty, creamy) and mouth-feel (density, creaminess and smoothness). The quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) results were confirmed by principal component analysis (PCA). Two components (PC1, PC2) explain 90.68% of the variation of the sensory qualities of the yoghurts.

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