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Objective: In this pilot study, we report the composition, structure and properties of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) present in milk samples of various countries and ethnicities.Methods: Fifty samples of human milk were analyzed, 10 from east Europe, 10 from North Africa, 10 from Central Africa, 10 from South America and 10 from Asia. Moreover, 30 samples were obtained during the first week and 20 between 8 to 30 days of life.Results: Overall, no significant differences were observed for the qualitative composition of GAGs, mainly chondroitin sulfate, heparan sulfate and hyaluronic acid, comparing the mothers from the various countries and between the 30 milks obtained during the first week and the 20 samples collected thereafter. Moreover, no significant differences in human milk GAGs within the different groups analyzed belonging to various counties and ethnicities were observed.Conclusions: These results may be of useful, as in the case of pilot studies with infant formulas enriched with chondroitin sulfate (CS) and/or heparan sulfate (HS) necessary to verify their possible positive effects on newborns feeding in countries at high risk of infection and/or infestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is well known that human milk oligosaccharides play an important role as prebiotics, anti-inflammatory, and anti-infective agents. In the last few years, several studies have been performed using specific oligosaccharides, such as 2'-fucosyllactose and 6'-sialylactose, to evaluate their biological functions. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the anti-adhesive effect of the above oligosaccharides on Escherichia coli and Salmonella fyris. Methods: Adhesion experiments were performed in the presence of 2'-fucosyllactose and 6'-sialyllactose as potential inhibitors of Escherichia coli and Salmonella fyris adhesion to Caco-2 cells. The oligosaccharides were used at different concentrations and the adhesion experiments were performed in triplicate and repeated at least three times. Results: A significant reduction of Escherichia coli adhesion was observed in the presence of 2'-fucosyllactose and 6'-sialyllactose at the human milk concentration. On the contrary, no positive effects were observed in both oligosaccharides on Salmonella firis. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the supplementation in infant formulas of 2'-fucosyllactose and 6'-sialyllactose, actually commercially available and absent in cow milk, could play positive effects in artificially fed infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need of adding the determination of anti-deamidated gliadin peptide (DGP) IgG to anti-transglutaminase (TTG) IgA antibodies for diagnosis of celiac disease (CD) in children <2 years of age is controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate, by head-to-head comparison, the diagnostic accuracy of TTG IgA and DGP IgG antibodies. We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, and Embase databases up to January 2021. The diagnostic reference was intestinal biopsy. We calculated the sensitivity and specificity of these tests and the odds ratio (OR) between the tests. Fifteen articles were eligible for the systematic review and ten were eligible for the meta-analysis. Sensitivity and specificity were 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.91–0.98) and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.85–0.99) for DGP IgG and 0.93 (95% CI, 0.88–0.97) and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.96–0.99) for TTG IgA, respectively. TTG IgA specificity was significantly higher (OR 9.3 (95% CI, 2.3–37.49); p < 0.001) while the sensitivity of DGP IgG was higher without reaching statistical significance (OR: 0.6 (95% CI, 0.24–1.51); p = 0.28). Both the meta-analysis and the systematic review showed that some children with early CD are missed without the DGP IgG test. In children <2 years of age, TTG IgA is the best CD screening test; however, the addition of DGP IgG may increase the diagnostic sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2 and/or -DQ8 is an essential risk factor for celiac disease (CD). About 90-95% of patients with CD carry HLA-DQ2/-DQ8 alleles, and HLA-DQ typing is considered an additional diagnostic test. Conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based HLA-DQ typing methods are expensive, complex, and a time-consuming process. We assessed the efficacy of a novel HLA-DQ typing method, "Celiac Gene Screen," for the detection of CD-associated HLA haplotypes., Methods: To assess the diagnostic performance of the Celiac Gene Screen test, 100 ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) blood samples, already characterized by the conventional HLA-DQ typing method, that is, PCR sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSOP), a concordance between both the methods were explored. For validity, a further 300 EDTA blood samples with unknown HLA-DQ status were genotyped using the Celiac Gene Screen test, including 141 samples from CD, 56 first-degree relatives (FDRs) of CD and 103 samples from controls., Results: Of the 100 samples with known status of HLA-DQ alleles, 79 samples were HLA-DQ2 and/or -DQ8 positive, and 21 samples were HLA-DQ2 and/or -DQ8 negative by conventional PCR. These 100 samples were re-typed using the Celiac Gene screen kit; all 79 positives were typed positive, and 21 negatives were typed negative for HLA-DQ alleles. Among 300 samples with unknown HLA-DQ status, 118 of 141 (84%) patients with CD, 48 of 56 (86%) FDRs of CD, and 52 of 103 (50%) controls typed positive for HLA-DQ alleles., Conclusions: The Celiac Gene Screen HLA-DQ typing method showed excellent concordance with the conventional HLA-DQ typing method and could be a cost-reducing and effective method for CD-associated HLA screening.