Epidermal growth factor in human and bovine milk

Abstract

The concentration of epidermal growth factor in human and bovine milk was measured by radioreceptor assay. Both human placental plasma membranes and a human epidermoid carcinoma cell were used as the epidermal growth factor receptor source in the assay. The use of placental plasma membrane in the radioreceptor assay gave erroneous results for bovine milk and overestimated the concentration of epidermal growth factor in human milk. Intact cells appear to provide a more accurate measure of the concentration of epidermal growth factor in milk samples. Using A431 cells, we found very low concentrations of epidermal growth factor in bovine milk (less than 2 ng/ml) compared to human milk (30-40 ng/ml). No epidermal growth factor activity was found in several cows' milk-based infant formulas. These results highlight the caution which must be taken when measuring trace substances such as polypeptide growth factors in complex samples such as milk.

Composition and properties of bovine colostrum: a review

“…Pakkanen and Aalto (1997) reported that the concentrations of IGF-I and IGF-II in colostrum range from 50 to 2000 μg.L −1 and 200-600 μg.L −1 , respectively, whereas mature milk contains <10 μg.L −1 of each. Yagi et al (1986) found that the concentration of EGF in colostrum and milk was 324 and 155 μg.L −1 , respectively; however, Iacopetta et al (1992) reported the concentration of EGF in colostrum and milk to be 4-8 and <2 μg.L −1 , respectively. It should be noted that reported levels of growth factors vary significantly depending on the method of quantitation used.…”

“…The main growth factors in colostrum and milk are epidermal growth factor (EGF) (Yagi et al 1986;Iacopetta et al 1992), betacellulin (BTC) (Bastian et al 2001), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) (Collier et al 1991), IGF-II (Schams 1994), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) (Ginjala and Pakkanen 1998), TGF-β2 (Cox and Burk 1991), fibroblast growth factor 1 and 2 (FGF1 and FGF2) and platelet-derived growth factor (PGDF) (Belford et al 1997).…”

Increased Epidermal Growth Factor Levels in Human Milk of Mothers with Extremely Premature Infants

“…Amniotic fluid contains significant concentrations of EGF that gradually increase during pregnancy, with the highest level achieved at the end of the normal gestation period (36). In contrast to human milk, EGF is absent in commercially available infant formulas (37,38). Clinical studies have shown reduced serum and salivary EGF levels in neonates with NEC when compared with healthy babies (39,40).…”

Identification of betacellulin as a major peptide growth factor in milk: purification, characterization and molecular cloning of bovine betacellulin

“…In human milk, EGF has been identified as a major growthpromoting factor [38], whereas there seems to be very little, if any, EGF in bovine milk [29]. Instead, the major growthpromoting factors identified in bovine milk seem to be PDGF [27] and IGF-I and IGF-II [28].…”

“…In bovine milk and colostrum, cell growth stimulatory activity has been attributed to a number of peptide growth factors including platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) [27] and insulin-like growth factor I and II (IGF-I and IGF-II) [28]. EGF, although abundant in human milk, has not been unequivocally detected in bovine milk or colostrum [29].…”