TY - JOUR
T1 - Cytokines and appetite-regulating hormones in human milk and associations with infant growth across four sites in a longitudinal cohort
T2 - The Mothers, Infants and Lactation Quality Study
AU - Christensen, Sophie Hilario
AU - Lewis, Jack Ivor
AU - Frøkiær, Hanne
AU - Johnsen, Peter Riber
AU - Peerson, Janet M.
AU - Tan, Xiuping
AU - Shahab-Ferdows, Setareh
AU - Hampel, Daniela
AU - Islam, Munirul
AU - Kac, Gilberto
AU - de Barros Mucci, Daniela
AU - Cunha Figueiredo, Amanda C.
AU - Moore, Sophie E.
AU - Mølgaard, Christian
AU - Allen, Lindsay H.
AU - Michaelsen, Kim F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Christensen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Introduction In resource-poor settings, mother-infant dyads are commonly exposed to environmental factors increasing the risk of infectious diseases and possibly influencing the cytokine profile of human milk (HM). Hormones in HM have been proposed to influence appetite-regulation and possibly growth in exclusively breastfed infants. Objective To compare cytokines and appetite-regulating hormone (ARH) concentrations in HM of mothers from four contrasting populations and investigate associations with infant growth. Method HM samples from 825 mothers participating in the Mothers, Infants and Lactation Quality Study from Bangladesh (BD), Brazil (BR), Denmark (DK) and The Gambia (GM) were collected between 1–3.5 months postpartum and analysed for tumour-necrosis factor-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-33, and insulin, leptin and adiponectin. Infant growth was measured twice between 1–5.99 months postpartum. Analysis of covariance was used to compare geometric means of HM markers between the four sites and associations between HM markers and infant growth were investigated using linear regression analysis. Results Differences in geometric means of all HM cytokines and ARHs were found among the four study sites after adjustment for possible explanatory variables. Lowest levels of most HM cytokines were found in BD, whereas highest levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 and IL-33 were found in DK. In GM, cytokines and ARHs were inversely associated with weight-for-age and weight-for-length Z-scores. Conclusion We showed significant differences in HM composition of cytokines and ARHs among the four countries. Highest levels of T helper cell type 2 cytokines, which is typically related to increased risk of atopic diseases, were found in DK. The results may reflect the influence of different environmental exposures in the four sites on HM composition, which may be associated with infant growth in GM.
AB - Introduction In resource-poor settings, mother-infant dyads are commonly exposed to environmental factors increasing the risk of infectious diseases and possibly influencing the cytokine profile of human milk (HM). Hormones in HM have been proposed to influence appetite-regulation and possibly growth in exclusively breastfed infants. Objective To compare cytokines and appetite-regulating hormone (ARH) concentrations in HM of mothers from four contrasting populations and investigate associations with infant growth. Method HM samples from 825 mothers participating in the Mothers, Infants and Lactation Quality Study from Bangladesh (BD), Brazil (BR), Denmark (DK) and The Gambia (GM) were collected between 1–3.5 months postpartum and analysed for tumour-necrosis factor-α, interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-33, and insulin, leptin and adiponectin. Infant growth was measured twice between 1–5.99 months postpartum. Analysis of covariance was used to compare geometric means of HM markers between the four sites and associations between HM markers and infant growth were investigated using linear regression analysis. Results Differences in geometric means of all HM cytokines and ARHs were found among the four study sites after adjustment for possible explanatory variables. Lowest levels of most HM cytokines were found in BD, whereas highest levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 and IL-33 were found in DK. In GM, cytokines and ARHs were inversely associated with weight-for-age and weight-for-length Z-scores. Conclusion We showed significant differences in HM composition of cytokines and ARHs among the four countries. Highest levels of T helper cell type 2 cytokines, which is typically related to increased risk of atopic diseases, were found in DK. The results may reflect the influence of different environmental exposures in the four sites on HM composition, which may be associated with infant growth in GM.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0323204
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0323204
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 40338935
AN - SCOPUS:105004855909
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 20
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 5
M1 - e0323204
ER -