Breast milk protects young infants against Campylobacter diarrhea by mechanisms which are not well understood. the long-term objective of this research project is to define components of human milk which interact with specific virulence traits of Campylobacter to prevent infection or disease.
the specific aims are to: 1) characterize milk antibodies directed against specific putative virulence factors of Campylobacter using the ligand binding assay in mammalian cells and by Western blots and to develop quantitative techniques to measure these specific antibodies in milk; 2) define the role of antibodies to specific virulence traits in protection using in vitro and in vivo models and ultimately to compare the levels of milk antibodies in infected and non- infected children from a nested case-control study from our previous cohort studies; 3) characterize and purify milk receptor glycoconjugates that inhibit infection with enteroinvasive Campylobacter by HPLC and identification of active compounds; 4) define the prevalence of fucosylated oligosaccharides in human milk among different populations and the relative variability over time during breastfeeding, and 5) define the role of fucosylated oligosaccharides in protection against infection and disease, by means of a nested case-control study and by conducting pilot studies in volunteers. The significance of this project is that it will define relevant antibodies and glycoconjugates that are protective against Campylobacter infection and will help to better understand the host-parasite interaction mucosa.
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