Human Milk Lactadherin: Nature of Its Carbohydrate Linkage and Protection Against Symptomatic Rotavirus Infection. ▴ 1779

Glycoproteins of the Human Milk Fat Globule in the Protection of the Breast-Fed Infant against Infections

“…All infants in both groups were breast-fed. This study showed that the infants with asymptomatic infections received significantly higher levels of lactadherin in their mother's milk as compared with the infants with symptomatic infections [28]. In contrast, there were no differences in the levels of MUC-1 mucin or butyrophilin in the milk between the two groups [28].…”

“…In clinical studies, it has been shown that high levels of lactadherin in human milk-fed infants protect against symptomatic rotavirus infection [28]. In these studies, the levels of lactadherin, MUC-1 mucin, and butyrophilin were measured in the milk of mothers with infants exposed to rotavirus infection.…”

“…The lactadherin sequence contains potential N-glycosylation sites and several threonine-and serine-rich sequences that could be potential O-glycosylation sites [26]. Carbohydrate linkage analysis suggests that at least some of the N-glycosylation sites are glycosylated [28]. The positioning of the RGD cell adhesion sequence in hairpin loop between two antiparallel ß-strands of the EGFlike motif suggests that the latter with its disulfide linkages acts as a scaffold to present the RGD sequence [26].…”

“…The significance of its binding to integrins of milk-fed infants is still open to speculation; however, it has already been shown to protect human milk-fed infants from symptomatic rotavirus infections [28]. Initially, lactadherin has been shown to be associated with a macromolecular complex in human milk that was able to inhibit rotavirus infection of MA104 cells in vitro [46].…”