Abstract
The concept of oral tolerance is based on work in experimental animals, but data demonstrating its hypothesized existence in humans is scarce We enrolled 25 healthy term newborns with nonatopie heredity to a prospective study, during; which scheduled visits took place at 3, 6, and 11 mo of age. Diet was determined at each visit Gut humoral immune response was approximated with ELISPOT assay of circulating antibody secreting cells, and serum 1gM, IgA and IgG antibodies to cow milk antigens were measured At 3 mo of age, despite low levels of serum IgA antibodies, cells secreting specific IgA to cow milk antigens were detected in the formula fed group, but not in breastfed infants The number of these cells decreased between the 6 and 11 mo visits, remaining at a measurable lesel. The total number of IgA secreting cells increased with age (p=0.001) The milk in the infant's diet inlluenced this development the age related increase was significantly greater in the formula fed group (p=0.04). The results indicate that diet significantly affects the developing immune system. Further, healthy infants, unlike those with cow milk allergy, are able to produce a local antigen specific immune response to dietary antigens. This could be crucial in attaining clinical tolerance of such antigens
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