In spite of intensive investigations, the ability of breast feeding to delay and to attenuate atopic diseases in children remains debatable. This study documents a mechanism whereby breast feeding might interfere with the synthesis of IgE by breast-fed infants. Indeed, we show that colostrum contains IgE-binding factors (IgE-BF) capable of suppressing the in vitro synthesis of human IgE. Colostrum obtained from 15 donors was successively depleted of lipids and casein, filtered through Amicon XM50 membrane (mol. mass cut-off 50 kDa) and lyophilized. IgE-BF was demonstrated in such preparations by two different approaches, i.e. a classical rosette inhibition assay and Western blot analysis. In the first instance, lyophilized preparations of colostrum inhibited the binding of IgE-coated bovine erythrocytes to IgE recovered on the surface of RPMI 8866 lymphoblastoid cells. The rosette-inhibiting activity could be absorbed on IgE- but not on IgG-Sepharose 4B and it could be recovered in the eluate of IgE-Sepharose 4B. The molecular mass of IgE-BF was comprised between 10 to 20 kDa as estimated by gel filtration through a calibrated Sephadex G-75 column. After fractionation on 12% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and transfer to nitrocellulose membrane, colostrum displayed one band of 14 kDa and reacted with radiolabeled IgE but not with IgG nor IgM. This 14-kDa band could be removed by absorbing colostrum with IgE- but not with IgG-Sepharose 4B. Most importantly, the colostrum IgE-BF suppressed the spontaneous in vitro synthesis of IgE by B lymphocytes derived from allergic donors without altering the production of IgM.

We tested 36 pairs of umbilical cord blood and maternal sera collected at the time of delivery by radioimmunoassay and by Western blot analysis for IgG or IgM antitetanus antibodies (anti-TT). Twenty-one participants had received a recall injection of tetanus toxoid at various periods during pregnancy. Maternal vaccination in the last trimester of pregnancy was associated with the presence of IgM anti-TT in the cord blood sera; these were not detected in neonatal sera from mothers who were not vaccinated during pregnancy or who received the booster injection during the first two trimesters of gestation. The results could not be ascribed to artifacts such as the contamination of neonatal sera by maternal blood, the contamination of the anti-IgM antisera by antiidiotypes, or by the presence of neonatal IgM rheumatoid factor binding to immune complexes made of maternal IgG anti-TT and radiolabelled TT. Hence, it is concluded that maternal vaccination during the last trimester of pregnancy may induce in utero active immunization of the fetus.

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