Anti-endotoxin antibodies in human milk: correlation with infection of thenewborn

A longitudinal study was performed to investigate the content of human colo strum and milk of antibodies against endotoxins of Escherichia coli, Pseudo monas aeruginosa and Salmonella minnesota during the first 6 mo of lactatio n. The influence of the gestational age of the newborn and the prevalence o f a systemic infection in the child on maternal antibody production were ob served. Colostrum of mothers of term infants who had shown signs of systemi c infection contained higher antibody concentrations compared to colostrum of mothers of healthy newborns. After the first week post partum, no differ ence in the milk's antibody content could be observed between these two gro ups. Antibody titres rose from 2 wk to 6 mo post partum (p < 0.001). Milk o f mothers of preterm infants with signs of systemic infection contained hig her antibody titres than milk of mothers of preterm infants without infecti on throughout the observation period. This difference reached statistical s ignificance 3 wk after delivery (p < 0.05). The corrected endotoxin antibod y levels against all tested antigens in milk of mothers of preterm infants with infection 6 mo post partum were 6 +/- 3.5 times as high as 2 wk post p artum. Conclusions: Breast milk contains anti-endotoxin antibodies. The particular ly high levels of anti-endotoxin antibodies in cases of neonatal infection may present a special maternal protection for premature infants.