1. High Levels of Interferon-Alpha Expressing Macrophages in Human Breast Milk During SARS-CoV-2 Infection: A Case Report.
- Author
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Yu JC, Khodadadi H, Salles ÉL, Pham Q, Patel P, and Baban B
- Subjects
- Antibodies, Viral metabolism, Breast Feeding, COVID-19 immunology, COVID-19 virology, Female, Humans, Immunity, Innate, Lactation, Lymphocytes, Macrophages, Milk, Human immunology, Milk, Human virology, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, SARS-CoV-2 immunology, SARS-CoV-2 isolation & purification, COVID-19 diagnosis, Interferon-alpha blood, Milk, Human metabolism
- Abstract
Introduction: In addition to hand washing and wearing masks, social distancing and reducing exposure time to <15 minutes are the most effective measures against the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately, three of these guidelines are very difficult, if not impossible, for nursing babies: they cannot wear masks, stay six feet away from the lactating breasts, nor consistently finish within 15 minutes while nursing. We report a case of a nursing mother with SARS-CoV-2 infection, documenting changes of immune cells and cytokines in breast milk with and without the infection. Case Description: With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, we obtained expressed breast milk samples from a lactating mother before and during SARS-CoV-2 infection as documented by reverse transcription-PCR. Using flow cytometry analysis, we measured the immune cell profiles and expression of cytokines such as interferon alpha (IFNα) in milk leukocytes before and during infection. Results: There was an eightfold increase in IFNα+ milk leukocytes, from 1% before SARS-CoV-2 infection to 8% when actively infected. The milk macrophages showed the highest increase in IFNα expression. Both T and B lymphocytes showed mild increase. Innate lymphoid cells, neutrophils, and natural killer cells showed no increase in IFNα expression and the dendritic cells actually showed a reduction. Conclusion: We document the presence and high expression of IFNα in the breast milk macrophages of a lactating mother with confirmed COVID-19, compared with her milk before the infection.
- Published
- 2021
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