Immunological Effects of Human Milk Oligosaccharides

Abstract

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) comprise a group of structurally complex, unconjugated glycans that are highly abundant in human milk. HMOs are minimally digested in the gastrointestinal tract and reach the colon intact, where they shape the microbiota. A small fraction of HMOs is absorbed, reaches the systemic circulation, and is excreted in urine. HMOs can bind to cell surface receptors expressed on epithelial cells and cells of the immune system and thus modulate neonatal immunity in the infant gut, and possibly also sites throughout the body. In addition, they have been shown to act as soluble decoy receptors to block the attachment of various microbial pathogens to cells. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the effects HMOs can have on infections, allergies, auto-immune diseases and inflammation, and will focus on the role of HMOs in altering immune responses through binding to immune-related receptors.

Human Cytomegalovirus Reactivation During Lactation: Impact of Antibody Kinetics and Neutralization in Blood and Breast Milk

“…The IgG-seronegative whey pool showed a high unspecific neutralizing capacity. This might be due to milk oligosaccharides, which were shown to be highly abundant in milk and inhibit different intestinal and respiratory viruses [43] and might, therefore, also be able to interfere with the neutralization test system. Alternatively, sIgA might also influence the neutralization test system, but detailed data on the role of HCMV-specific-sIgA in epithelial based NT-assays are not available according to our knowledge.…”

Nutritional interest of dietary fiber and prebiotics in obesity: Lessons from the MyNewGut consortium

“…1B). Even though there are many studies related to human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and their influence in the infant health [25], still is limited the number of studies reporting beneficial metabolic effects of GOS in the adult population. The available evidence shows, for example, that the supplementation with a GOS to healthy elderly volunteers decreased systemic and fecal proinflammatory markers associated with increases in Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus-Enterococcus spp., and the C. coccoideseE.…”

Transforming growth factor beta in human milk and allergic outcomes in children: A systematic review

“…51 These findings suggest that narrowing research to single components could result in conflicting and even misleading findings and suggests that HM studies should implement a more holistic approach given the links between development of the immune system and both the gut microbiome 52 and HM oligosaccharides (HMO). 53 We found a high degree of heterogeneity between studies, usually straightforward, the investigation of relationships with concentrations in mature HM is more problematic, given the variability in breastfeeding patterns and volumes of HM consumed during the lactation. 61 Our systematic review highlights pitfalls in HM research, with results not being data adjusted for known confounding factors in many studies up to date with only a few using multivariate statistical analysis (Table S2).…”

“…The authors reported interactions between the immune markers and showed that networks of HM regulatory and pro‐inflammatory cytokines including TGF‐β1, IL‐1β, IL‐6 and IL‐10 are associated with tolerance to cow's milk development . These findings suggest that narrowing research to single components could result in conflicting and even misleading findings and suggests that HM studies should implement a more holistic approach given the links between development of the immune system and both the gut microbiome and HM oligosaccharides (HMO) …”