background  the mammary gland in humans is a dynamic organ that undergoes significant developmental changes during pregnancy, lactation, and involution. stem cells derived from human breast milk possess the adult stem cell-like characteristics such as self-renewal, proliferative and differentiate potential. this source of stem cells avoids invasive procedures and the ethical controversy of embr...

Background  The mammary gland in humans is a dynamic organ that undergoes significant developmental changes during pregnancy, lactation, and involution. Stem cells derived from human breast milk possess the adult stem cell-like characteristics such as self-renewal, proliferative and differentiate potential. This source of stem cells avoids invasive procedures and the ethical controversy of emb...

Background: The beneficial effect of breastfeeding for the health of mothers and infants are well recognized. Breast milk is a novel source of the stem cells forming during pregnancy and lactation. In the present study, the colony forming efficiency (CFE) of breast milk-derived stem/progenitor cells in the breast milk of mothers with preterm delivery (gestational age o...

While secretory Abs have been extensively explored in human breast milk, the existence, features, and functions of B lymphocytes remain largely unexplored in this compartment. We analyzed breast milk and blood lymphocytes from 21 lactating women, including 12 HIV-1-infected mothers. Breast milk B cells displayed a phenotype of class-switched memory B cells, with few IgD(+) memory and naive B ce...

Breast milk samples from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-seropositive women were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction to determine the prevalence and determinants of HIV-1-infected cells in breast milk. Breast milk samples (212) were collected from 107 women, and 58% of the samples had detectable HIV-1 DNA. The proportion of HIV-1-infected cells in the milk samples ranged from 1 to...

BACKGROUND Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis is a common and often fatal gastrointestinal disease, especially in premature infants. To study potential mechanisms underlying the protective effect of breast milk on neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis, we induced intestinal inflammation in a Caco-2 cell model of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis by hypoxia/re-oxygenation to investigate whether br...

Concern has been expressed about the fact that cows' milk contains estrogens and could stimulate the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors. In this study, organic cows' milk and two commercial substitutes were digested in vitro and tested for their effects on the growth of cultures of prostate and breast cancer cells. Cows' milk stimulated the growth of LNCaP prostate cancer cells in each of 14 se...

BACKGROUND The incidence and correlates of breast milk HIV-1 RNA detection were determined in intensively sampled women receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission. METHODS Women initiated HAART at 34 weeks of pregnancy. Breast milk was collected every 2-5 days during 1 month postpartum for measurements of cell-associated HIV...

Breast milk is a vehicle of infection and source of protection in post-natal mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission (MTCT). Understanding the mechanism by which breast milk limits vertical transmission will provide critical insight into the design of preventive and therapeutic approaches to interrupt HIV-1 mucosal transmission. However, characterization of the inhibitory activity of breast milk in ...