Human Milk Oligosaccharide Blood Group Epitopes and Innate Immune Protection against Campylobacter and Calicivirus Diarrhea in Breastfed Infants

Human milk contains a variety of bioactive agents, including oligosaccharides, which are part of the innate defense system (Hanson et al. 1991; Zopf & Roth 1996; Newburg et al. 1998; Erney et al. 2000; Hamosh 2001; Chaturvedi et al. 2001). Oligosaccharides are the third largest solid constituent of human milk after lactose and lipids (Stahl et al. 1994; Zopf & Roth 1996; Erney et al. 2000; Chaturvedi et al. 2001; Hamosh 2001). α 1,2-Linked fucosylated oligosaccharides in human milk have been shown to inhibit host ligand binding to Campylobacter, caliciviruses, and other enteric pathogens (Newburg et al. 1990; Crane et al. 1994; Marionneau et al. 2002; Ruiz-Palacios et al. 2003; Huang et al. 2003). Significant variation exists between mothers in the quantity of α 1,2-linked fucosylated oligosaccharides in their milk. We conducted this study in breastfed infants to determine the clinical relevance of the observed variation in human milk fucosylated oligosaccharides in relation to protection offered infants against diarrhea due to Campylobacter jejuni and caliciviruses.