Immunostimulation of Murine Spleen Cells by Materials Associated with Bovine Milk Protein Fractions

¹ Department of Human Ecology, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3M 2J6
² Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4H7

Purified bovine milk proteins that were added to cultures of murine spleen cells significantly increased cell proliferation and production of immunoglobulin M. Casein and a whey mixture consisting of -lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin, bovine gamma globulin, and ß-lactoglobulin (ß-LG) were stimulatory. Of the three ß-LG preparations that are commercially available (ß-LG containing variants A and B, purified variant A, and purified variant B), the unseparated mixture containing both the A and B variants showed the most immunomodulatory activity. Both alkaline treatment and trypsin digestion of the ß-LG preparation markedly reduced its effectiveness. Polymyxin B, while greatly diminishing the stimulatory effect of lipopolysaccharide, had no significant effect on either the enhancement of cell proliferation or the enhancement of immunoglobulin production by ß-LG. In the presence of S-(n-butyl)-homocysteine sulfoxamine, the stimulatory effect of ß-LG on cell proliferation and IgM production in vitro was markedly reduced.

Key Words: immunostimulation • milk proteins • whey • ßbeta;-lactoglobulin

Submitted on July 23, 1997
Accepted on February 24, 1998

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Prioult, S. Pecquet, and I. Fliss Stimulation of Interleukin-10 Production by Acidic {beta}-Lactoglobulin-Derived Peptides Hydrolyzed with Lactobacillus paracasei NCC2461 Peptidases Clin. Vaccine Immunol., March 1, 2004; 11(2): 266 - 271. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]