Protective factors in mature human milk: a look into the proteome and peptidome of adolescent mothers’ breast milk

Abstract

The characterisation of proteome and peptidome of adolescent mothers’ breast milk brings important information to both mother’s and infant’s health; however, it has not been investigated. Bioactive peptides derived from milk proteins have numerous functions. The bioactivity of breast milk peptides includes anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities and regulation of gastrointestinal function. We aimed to characterise the proteome and peptidome of mature breast milk of adolescent mothers and investigate whether it is affected by lactational period. We used a combination of electrophoretic and nano-scale LC-quadrupole time-of-flight MS/MS (nLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) techniques and bioinformatics to explore the proteome of human skimmed milk expressed by lactating adolescents in two groups according to postpartum period (up to 3 and over 5 weeks postpartum). This is the first study that analysed the proteome of adolescent mothers’ breast milk produced during two periods of lactation using 1D-electrophoresis combined with nLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis. Our results showed that the protein composition of adolescent milk varies independently of lactation stage and showed high inter-individual variation. A total of 424 proteins were identified in skimmed milk, of which 137 proteins were common to both groups. Most of the peptides found in adolescents’ breast milk were not derived from major proteins in milk. Association maps showed several interactions between groups of peptides that pointed to the relevance of breast milk peptides to neonatal defensive system.

Impact of Storage Conditions on the Breast Milk Peptidome

“…Like other components of breast milk, the peptidome is influenced by several factors, such as the age of the mother [11], prematurity [36], health status [12,37], and lactation period [25]. Changes in the peptidome seem to have an impact on the well-being of the newborn.…”

“…However, the mechanism by which the components in milk protect preterm infants from NEC is still not yet clear. The human milk peptidome might play a role [11,12].…”

Exploring Human Milk Dynamics: Interindividual Variation in Milk Proteome, Peptidome, and Metabolome

“…This was observed to be valid for both the human milk proteome 12 and peptidome. 16 From this, the questions arise: what is the extent of this interindividual variation and what is its origin? In addition, it emphasizes the challenge in investigating relations between composition and other parameters such as maternal characteristics.…”

“…In the few studies on this done so far, it was established that variation between individual mothers is greater than longitudinal variation. This was observed to be valid for both the human milk proteome and peptidome . From this, the questions arise: what is the extent of this interindividual variation and what is its origin?…”

Peptidomics analysis of human breast milk from women with postpartum depression reveals its potential pathogenesis

“…It also provides a brand‐new idea to explore biomarkers for accurate or early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment management (Schrader et al, 2014). The samples used for analysis vary from those obtained by invasive acquisition, such as tissue (Li et al, 2020; Liu et al, 2018), blood (Tammen et al, 2007) and ascites (Huang et al, 2018), to those obtained by easy and noninvasive acquisition, including saliva (Amado et al, 2010), sweat (Yu et al, 2017), urine (Sirolli et al, 2019) and human breast milk (Campanhon et al, 2019). Current studies on peptidomics of human breast milk are focused on the protective factors for infants and mothers such as antimicrobial peptides (Dallas et al, 2013).…”