2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Transfer of food allergen to breast milk and its physiological significance
| Project/Area Number |
15580117
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Food science
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| Research Institution | Kyoto Women's University (2004)
Kyoto Women's Junior College (2003) |
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Principal Investigator |
NARITA Hiroshi Kyoto Women's University, Faculty of Home Economics, 家政学部, 教授 (30155999)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Keywords | food allergy / breast milk / secretory IgA / immune complex / allergen / oral tolerance |
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| Research Abstract |
To clarify the mechanism of allergy sensitization via breast milk, food allergens in human breast milk were analyzed. On gel-filtration experiments of human breast milk, the major food allergen, ovomucoid (28 kDa) of hen's egg, was eluted at the fractions with a molecular weight of about 450 kDa, which corresponded to that for the immune complex of ovomucoid and sIgA. Similar results, showing the occurrence of a food allergen as an immune complex with its specific sIgA in breast milk, have also been observed for other foods such as cow's milk, wheat, buckwheat, and peanut. This phenomenon itself would not be a direct cause of baby's allergy because there was no reasonable relationship between the kind and level of the immune complex in mother's milk and the allergy of the baby who drank it. In the very rare case, however, free food proteins were found in breast milk, which might act as allergens. Incubation of breast milk with excess amount of β-lactoglobulin resulted in the increase of its immune complex with sIgA and decrease of its free sIgA without affecting the pattern of the sIgA against ovomucoid. Maternal feeding of buckwheat induced the level of the sIgA specific to buckwheat proteins in breast milk. Possible physiological importance of these findings is discussed in connection with development of intestinal immunity of infants.
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Research Products
(6 results)
