Differences in protein fraction from goat and cow milk and their role on cytokine production in children with cow's milk protein allergy

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Garganica goat milk was characterized for protein composition and the impact of milk protein mixture, casein and β-lactoglobulin fraction on cytokine production by cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells from infants with cow's milk protein allergy. Bulk milk samples were collected in a dairy goat farm located in the Gargano area (Southern Italy), cow milk was used as control. Ten patients with cow's milk protein allergy (6 males; mean age 8.4±6.4months) and ten non-allergic control subjects (6 males; mean age 7.4±3.1months) were consecutively included in the study. Although the amount of total casein was comparable in cow and goat milk (56.08% vs. 55.33%, respectively) the distribution of principal casein fractions was different according to species. α-CN on total casein was more than 50% both in raw and pasteurized cow milk whereas it was always lower than 40% in goat milk and an opposite trend was observed for β-CN. Production of tumor necrosis factor-α after exposure to goat milk casein and β-lactoglobulin was lower than after exposure to the same fractions from cow milk. Goat milk induced higher levels of regulatory interleukin-10 by peripheral blood mononuclear cells than cow milk. Results on tumor necrosis factor-α evidenced that it is important to test the immune reactivity against each protein fraction before considering goat milk as a safe substitute for feeding infant with cow's milk protein allergy.