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Human milk oligosaccharides reduce EPEC attachment in vitro and EPEC colonization in mice
Author(s) -
Manthey Carolin Friederike,
Autran Chloe,
Eckmann Lars,
Bode Lars
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.45.6
Subject(s) - colonization , enteropathogenic escherichia coli , in vitro , diarrhea , in vivo , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , breast milk , feces , breastfeeding , physiology , biology , escherichia coli , pediatrics , biochemistry , gene
Breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk for enteric infections, in part due to human milk oligosaccharides (HMO), unconjugated complex glycans that are present in human milk (5–15g/L), but not in infant formula. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) are attaching/effacing pathogens that can cause enteric infections and serious diarrheal illness with potentially high mortality in infants, especially in developing countries. Our objective was to assess whether HMO reduce EPEC attachment in vitro and colonization in vivo. Physiological concentrations of HMO (10g/L) reduced EPEC attachment to cultured epithelial cells (HeLa and T84) by 99% compared to mock‐treated controls (p<0.0001). Galactooligosaccharides (GOS, 8g/L), currently added to infant formula, had no effect. In 7‐day old suckling mice, oral administration of HMO (15mg/d) thrice daily the day prior and after EPEC exposure reduced colon EPEC counts to 3.8E+06 compared to 1.1E+08 in PBS‐treated littermates (p=0.015) and 5.1E+08 in GOS‐treated littermates. Our data suggest that HMO reduce EPEC attachment in vitro and colon colonization in suckling mice. We now aim to identify which of the more than 130 different HMO contribute to the observed effects and whether our results translate to human infants.