Essa M Abdulla, Farah E Zaidi, Aliya Zaidi.
Immune factors in breast milk: A study and review.
Pak J Med Sci Jan ;21(2):178-86.

Objective: An established source of energy, vitamins, minerals, growth factors, enzymes and hormones, only recent key research has also documented the ability of mothers milk to reduce in infants the incidence of diarrhea, RTI, UTI, otitis media, neonatal septicemia, necrotizing enterocolitis, Crohn`s disease, allergic disorders, SIDS, type I diabetes, and lymphoma. However, the apparently scanty data from Pakistan on relevant antimicrobial constituents has encouraged this evaluation of selected immune factors in the early milk of some Karachi lactating mothers. Design: Milk specimens expressed in sterile containers from lactating women 36-48 hours after parturition were scrutinized for DLC, TIBC and iron, and its centrifuged supernatants for IgA, IgG, IgM, CRP, C3, C4, and Secretor status; blood was drawn for Hb% and ABO(H)/Rh grouping. Setting: A total of 25 colostrums, eleven of which were collected in January 2000 at Karachi`s Imam General Hospital and 14 from voluntary lactating women 36-48 hours after parturition in the maternity ward of the city`s Civil Hospital during Feb-Dec 2003, were processed at Dr. Essa`s Lab & Diagnostic Centre, Karachi. All donors had uncomplicated pregnancies, and no signs of mastitis at the time of sampling. Results: TIBC ranged from 283 to a high 795ug/dL in one mother with IDDM; CRP was mildly elevated (10-12 mg/L) in 22 subjects; IgG was not detectable in any specimen, but IgM was present (20-455 mg/dL), and sIgA, the major immunoglobulin in secretions, was significantly manifest (165-3090 mg/dL). Both C3 (30-287 mg/dL) and C4 (7-54 mg/dL), key components of the complement cascade, were evident. The lowest sIgA amount (48 mg/dL) with only traces of IgM, C3 and C4 were noticed in our solitary blood group `A2` subject incidentally found to be a non-Secretor. Conclusions: Selected antimicrobial factors in early breast milk expressed with informed consent from 25 Karachi lactating mothers were estimated. The ongoing study has hinted at individual variations from mother to mother in the blend of some of the pertinent constituents assessed, which encourages and necessitates additional sampling for confirmation.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com