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Human milk miRNAs primarily originate from the mammary gland resulting in unique miRNA profiles of fractionated milk

ABSTRACT: Human milk (HM) contains an array of regulatory biomolecules including miRNAs, the origin, properties, distribution and functional significance of which are still undetermined. In this study, we used the TaqMan OpenArray System to profile 681 human mature miRNAs in two fractions of HM (cells and lipids) collected from healthy mothers in month 2 of lactation (n=10). Comparisons were performed with maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma collected from the same individuals, as well as with a bovine- and a soy-based infant formulae. HM cells (292 miRNAs) and PBMCs (345 miRNAs) had higher miRNA content than HM lipids (242 miRNAs) and plasma (219 miRNAs), respectively (p<0.05). Despite the wide variation in miRNA profiles and expression between mothers, a strong association was found between HM cells and lipids within a mother, whilst PBMCs and plasma were distinctly different to the two milk fractions, with plasma displaying marked inter-individual variation. Considering the dominance of epithelial cells in mature milk of healthy women, these results suggest that HM cell and lipid miRNAs primarily originate from the mammary epithelium, whilst the maternal circulation may have a smaller contribution. Infant formulae contained very few human miRNA compared to HM. Our findings demonstrate that unlike infant formulae, human milk is a rich source of lactation-specific miRNA, which could be used as a biomarker of the performance and health status of the lactating gland. Given the recently identified stability and gene regulatory functions of food-derived miRNAs, HM miRNAs may contribute to infant protection and development.

ORGANISM(S): Bos taurus Glycine max Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE66358 | GEO | 2015/03/30

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA276637

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Human milk (breastmilk) is much more than nutrition for the infant, containing an array of regulatory agents with immunoprotective and developmental functions. Amongst those, microRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been identified, with their properties, roles, origin and distribution in breastmilk as well as in the mammary gland being still undetermined. In this study, we examined the miRNA profile of different fractions of human milk (cells and lipids) using the OpenArray system (Applied Biosystems, 770 miRNA species measured per sample) and compared it with maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma. Although PBMCs were the richest group in miRNA species, plasma showed very low expression pattern. Thus, the human milk fractions (cells, lipid) and skim milk (not being investigated in this study) were found to conserve higher levels of miRNAs than blood in general. Specifically, human milk cell miRNA quantity was found relatively close to PBMCs, and higher than milk lipids. Correlation and clustering analyses indicated that miRNA expression and types of milk cells were highly similar to those in lipids. Milk miRNAs showed a slight correlation to PBMCs, so PBMCs potentially are not contributing to milk miRNAs. Plasma was different to all other three groups in miRNA content and expression pattern. Further, two infant formulae (a plant-based and a cow milk-based) were compared to human milk and found to contain significantly fewer miRNA species than human milk cells and lipids (p>0.001). Taken together with previous studies on miRNAs, our findings demonstrate that human milk is one of the richest sources of miRNAs among human body fluids. As a non-invasive and plentiful source of miRNAs, human milk could be used as a disease biomarker for the mammary gland, with potential in assessing lactation performance. Finally, gene target and pathways analyses identified several target mRNAs regulated by miRNAs found to be abundant in breastmilk. Given the recently identified stability and function of food-derived miRNAs in regulating mammalian genes, we propose that breastmilk is a rich source of miRNA ingested by the infant during the first months of life, and which potentially contribute to early infant development. 10 exclusively breastfeeding dyads were recruited. 10 whole milk and 10 whole blood samples were collected and fractionated to obtain 10 milk cells, 10 milk lipid, 10 mononeucleoted blood cells (PBMCs), and 10 plasma. In addition to the above 40 samples, 2 infant formula were profiled. 4 different extraction kits were used, miRNeasy mini Kit for human milk cell and PBMC samples. miRCURY RNA Isolation-Biofluids Kit for human milk lipid samples and both infant formulae. mirVana PARIS Kit for plasma samples. NanoDrop 2000 and Bioanalyzer 2100 were used to determine concentration and purity of the extracted miRNA from all samples (n=42). miRNA OpenArray panel system (Life Technologies, CA, USA) was used to profile 754 human mature miRNAs in samples. RNU48, RNU44 and U6 rRNA were used as housekeeping controls for normalisation. ath-miR159a was used as a negative control for human samples. GeneGO and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis were used to determine biological pathways. Please note that normalization of miRNAs was done in R but without generating deltaCT values, thus [1] only the list of normalized miRNA with Ct vlaue between 8 and 29 and that detected in at least 4 samples out of 10 analysed in each group is provided ('normalized_miRNAs_list.txt') [2] the sample data tables contain raw data.

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Human milk miRNAs primarily originate from the mammary gland resulting in unique miRNA profiles of fractionated milk

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