Understanding Antiviral Activity in Human Milk Oligosaccharides
Several different nutritional and immunological factors in human milk promote infant growth and protect against infection. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are one example of these factors, and also the third most abundant component of human breast milk, after fat and carbohydrates. Due to their previously described antimicrobial activities, we are interested in understanding the antiviral activity of HMOs. In this study, the antiviral activity of HMOs was tested against zika virus (ZIKV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), and guinea pig cytomegalovirus (GPCMV). ZIKV is typically transmitted by a mosquito vector, while both HCMV and GPCMV are shed in the breast milk. However, both cytomegaloviruses are cospeciated with their hosts. To measure the antiviral effect of HMOs, replication was performed by incubating the viruses with various concentrations of HMOs. Viral titering was performed on each of the samples collected to measure virus production. In all cases, higher concentrations of HMOs resulted in lower virus titers. Thus, HMOs have antiviral activity, but further research is needed to confirm these results, and discover the mechanism behind the antiviral activity.