14787 Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, USA.
3078 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
J Hum Lact. 2021 Nov;37(4):736-745. doi: 10.1177/0890334421999628. Epub 2021 Mar 31.
The immune system of milk protects against infections and guides immune system development. A system-level understanding of milk immune activity is critical for research into infant infectious disease risk and lifelong health.
To describe a protocol to characterize immune activity in human milk via in vitro stimulation for use in population-based (rather than clinical) research.
This study proceeded in two phases, each with a cross-sectional design. Human milk specimens were incubated for 24 hr at 37 °C in mammalian cell culture medium with stimuli (e.g., ) in a CO-enriched environment. Immune responses to stimuli were characterized as the change in cytokine: [stimulated]/[baseline]. Predictors of cytokine responses were evaluated with generalized linear models.
Patterns were detectable across mother-child dyads: Interleukin-6 responses to stimuli were generally positively associated with child age and with maternal autoimmune disease.
Our method allows characterization of pro-inflammatory milk immune activity in vitro in population-based (rather than clinical) research settings. In vitro activity has a system-level interpretation and is likely to be of broad utility in global health research in settings with high infectious disease risk, where understanding the immune system of milk is critical to understanding maternal and child health.
母乳中的免疫系统可以抵御感染并指导免疫系统的发育。全面了解母乳中的免疫活性对于研究婴儿传染病风险和终生健康至关重要。
描述一种通过体外刺激来描述母乳免疫活性的方案，用于基于人群（而非临床）的研究。
本研究分两个阶段进行，每个阶段都采用横截面设计。将母乳标本在 37°C 的哺乳动物细胞培养基中与刺激物（例如）在富含 CO 的环境中孵育 24 小时。通过广义线性模型评估刺激物引起的细胞因子变化[刺激]/[基础]来描述免疫反应。
可以在母婴对子之间检测到模式：细胞因子白细胞介素-6 的反应与儿童年龄和母亲自身免疫性疾病呈正相关。
我们的方法允许在基于人群（而非临床）的研究环境中体外描述促炎母乳免疫活性。体外活性具有系统水平的解释，并且很可能在具有高传染病风险的全球健康研究中具有广泛的应用，其中了解母乳的免疫系统对于理解母婴健康至关重要。
