Abstract
Apart from optimal nutritional value, human milk is the feeding strategy to support the immature immunological system of developing newborns and infants. The most beneficial dietary carbohydrate components of breast milk are human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and glycoproteins (HMGs), involved in both specific and nonspecific immunity. Fucosylated oligosaccharides represent the largest fraction of human milk oligosaccharides, with the simplest and the most abundant being 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL). Fucosylated oligosaccharides, as well as glycans of glycoproteins, as beneficial dietary sugars, elicit anti-adhesive properties against fucose-dependent pathogens, and on the other hand are crucial for growth and metabolism of beneficial bacteria, and in this aspect participate in shaping a healthy microbiome. Well-documented secretor status related differences in the fucosylation profile of HMOs and HMGs may play a key but underestimated role in assessment of susceptibility to fucose-dependent pathogen infections, with a potential impact on applied clinical procedures. Nevertheless, due to genetic factors, about 20% of mothers do not provide their infants with beneficial dietary carbohydrates such as 2′-FL and other α1,2-fucosylated oligosaccharides and glycans of glycoproteins, despite breastfeeding them. The lack of such structures may have important implications for a wide range of aspects of infant well-being and healthcare. In light of the above, some artificial mixtures used in infant nutrition are supplemented with 2′-FL to more closely approximate the unique composition of maternal milk, including dietary-derived fucosylated oligosaccharides and glycoproteins.
Highlights
The recommendation of breast milk as the best way to feed newborns and infants is associated with its unique composition
The most important beneficial glycoconjugates of breast milk include free milk oligosaccharides (HMOs, human milk oligosaccharides), glycoproteins involved in specific (S-IgA, secretory immunoglobulin A, IgM, immunoglobulin M and IgG, immunoglobulin G) and nonspecific immunity (LF, lactoferrin) and glycolipids [10,11,12,13,14]
HMOs are based on a lactose molecule (disaccharide made of a galactose (Gal) linked by a β1, 4-glycosidic bond to a glucose (Glc)) to which other monosaccharides, such as N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), Gal, fucose (Fuc) and sialic acid (Neu5Ac), can be attached
Summary
The recommendation of breast milk as the best way to feed newborns and infants is associated with its unique composition. Breast milk is rich in molecules with immunomodulatory properties that have a significant impact on the maturation of the immune, digestive and nervous systems of breastfed newborns and infants and provide protection against pathogens. All, it is an indispensable element of specific and nonspecific immunity transferred to the newborn and infants along with the mother’s milk [4,5,6,7,8,9].
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