Factors in ruminant colostrum that influence cell growth and murine IgE antibody responses

Immunomodulatory properties of milk

There is increasing commercial interest in the production of functional foodstuffs which have health-promoting properties. Over the last five to ten years, significant progress has been made in the identification and characterisation of bovine milk components that can affect the function of the immune system. This review outlines the major components of bovine milk that have been shown to modulate immune function, and discusses experimental approaches to the identification of various facets of the immune response that are known to be affected by milk-derived proteins.

Nutritional and physiological criteria in the assessment of milk protein quality for humans

Dietary protein quality is influenced by several factors and especially amino acid composition as well as the bioavailability of the protein. The method to assess the dietary protein quality recommended by the FAO/WHO (1985, 1990) is based on the ability of the protein to satisfy the indispensable amino acid requirements. The Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PD-CAAS) has been proposed as a quality index and takes into account both the indispensable amino acid composition and the protein digestibility. This index can easily be used routinely, but some conceptual and methodological limits must be considered, such as the determination of both nitrogen and indispensable amino acid requirements, the bioavailability of dietary protein and the validation of the quality indexes. Another level in the evaluation of protein quality considers more specific activities related to specific protein-derived components. The compounds responsible for these activities include enzymes, immunoglobulins, mediator and hormone-like substances. These actions are linked to native proteins or to peptides cleaved from protein during digestion.

Determination of transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta 2) in bovine colostrum samples

Transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta 2) is the major TGF-beta form in bovine colostrum. A colostrum pool of the five first milkings was made to validate an ELISA specific for human TGF-beta 2 for measure TGF-beta 2 concentration in bovine colostrum samples. According to this test > 90% of total TGF-beta 2 (74.5 +/- 4.4 ng/ml) in colostrum pool was in a latent form that could be activated by acetic acid treatment, whereas the concentration of the active form was only 4.19 +/- 0.27 ng/ml. Activated colostrum samples of the first milkings of five cows contained 150-1150 ng TGF-beta 2/ml and its concentration declined in correlation (r = 0.86) with total protein concentration to 12-71 ng/ml by the fifth milkings. Most of the TGF-beta 2 (94%) was found in the whey fraction of colostrum. The ELISA results were also compared with a TGF-beta 2 bioassay, the fibroblasts migration assay. This assay detected 9.8 +/- 1.0 ng/ml and 4.4 +/- 0.7 ng/ml in the activated and non-activated samples of colostrum pool respectively.

Immunomodulatory activities of whey fractions in efferent prefemoral lymph of sheep

Studies on the immunomodulatory activities of ruminant milk and colostral whey fractions were undertaken. By comparing with boiled colostral whey in a preliminary experiment, a putative heat-labile immunostimulatory factor for antibody responses was found to be present in ovine colostral whey. Studies were then undertaken in sheep in which the efferent prefemoral lymphatic ducts were cannulated bilaterally, and immune responses in the node were measured following subcutaneous injection in the flank fold of whey protein preparations of various purities. A significant sustained decline of efferent lymphocyte output was observed following injection with autologous crude milk whey or colostral whey preparations, but no changes were observed in interferon-gamma levels in lymph plasma. Two bovine milk whey fractions (lactoperoxidase and lactoferrin) of high purity were compared in bilaterally cannulated sheep. A transient decline over the first 6 h was seen in the efferent lymphocyte output and lymph flow rate after injection of both fractions. A significant difference was seen between the two fractions in interferon-gamma levels in lymph at 6 h after injection. However, no significant changes in the proportion of the various efferent lymphocyte phenotypes were seen following either treatment. Whereas both fractions showed a significant inhibitory effect in a dose-dependent manner on the proliferative response of T lymphocytes, but not B lymphocytes, to mitogenic stimulation in vitro, no similar changes were seen following in vivo stimulation with these two fractions.

Immunomodulatory effects of dietary whey proteins in mice

Studies on the immunomodulatory properties of dietary whey proteins in mice are reported. Ingestion of bovine milk whey proteins, either as a supplement in an adequately balanced commercial diet or as the only protein source in a balanced diet, consistently enhanced secondary humoral antibody responses following systemic immunization with ovalbumin, when compared with other protein sources such as soyabean protein isolate and ovine colostral whey proteins. After 5-8 weeks of feeding, dietary milk whey proteins enhanced cell-mediated immune responses as revealed by footpad delayed-type hypersensitivity responses, and concanavalin A-induced spleen cell proliferative responses. To monitor nutritional effects of milk whey proteins, live weight, leucocyte counts and clinical changes of diet-fed mice were examined. The present results confirm other previous results that dietary bovine milk whey proteins have immunoenhancing properties in mice and these properties are unlikely to be related solely to the nutritional effects.