International Education and Research Center for Food and Agricultural Immunology, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
International Research and Development Center for Mucosal Vaccine, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Mucosal Immunol. 2018 May;11(3):643-653. doi: 10.1038/mi.2017.90. Epub 2017 Dec 20.
Breastfeeding is important for mammals, providing immunological and microbiological advantages to neonates, together with the nutritional supply from the mother. However, the mechanisms of this functional diversity in the mammary gland remain poorly characterized. Here, we show that, similar to the gastrointestinal tract, the mammary gland develops immune and microbial environments consisting of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and the microflora, respectively, both of which are important for protecting neonates and the mother from infectious diseases. The IgA production and microflora development are coordinated in the gastrointestinal tract but seem to be independently regulated in the mammary gland. In particular, the chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 28 and poly-Ig receptor, crucial molecules for the IgA production in milk, were expressed normally in germ-free lactating mice but were almost undetectable in postweaning mothers, regardless of the microflora presence. Our findings offer insights into potentially improving the quality of breastfeeding, using both immunological and microbiological approaches.
母乳喂养对哺乳动物很重要，它为新生儿提供免疫和微生物优势，以及来自母亲的营养供应。然而，乳腺这种功能多样性的机制仍未得到很好的描述。在这里，我们表明，与胃肠道类似，乳腺发育出由免疫球蛋白 A（IgA）和微生物群分别组成的免疫和微生物环境，这两者对于保护新生儿和母亲免受传染病都很重要。IgA 的产生和微生物群的发展在胃肠道中是协调的，但在乳腺中似乎是独立调节的。特别是趋化因子（C-C 基元）配体 28 和多 Ig 受体，它们是乳汁中 IgA 产生的关键分子，在无菌哺乳期小鼠中正常表达，但在断奶后母亲中几乎检测不到，而不管微生物群的存在如何。我们的研究结果为通过免疫和微生物学方法提高母乳喂养质量提供了新的见解。
