The absence of immunoreactivity to donkey's milk in patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers and immunoreactivity to cow's milk

doi:10.1080/09540105.2017.1293017

Published March 19, 2017 | Version v.1

Journal article Open

The absence of immunoreactivity to donkey's milk in patients with recurrent aphthous ulcers and immunoreactivity to cow's milk

1. Department of Experimental Oncology, Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
2. Clinic for Periodontology and Oral medicine, Faculty of Stomatology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
3. Dental Ordination 'Dr Besu', Zrenjanin, Serbia
4. Centre of Research Excellence in Nutrition and Metabolism, Institute for Medical Research, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Despite the numerous benefits of milk constituents for human health, a considerable number of the general population follow a milk-restricted diet due to clinically confirmed or self-assessed adverse reactions to cow’s milk consumption. Recurrent aphthous
ulcers (RAU) are currently one of the most common oral disorders, with a worldwide distribution and insufficiently defined etiology,
which, among other factors, implies the immunological reaction to food proteins. The aim of this study was to determine the
immune-reactivity to donkey’s milk proteins in patients with RAU and compare it to the reactivity towards the proteins from cow’s
and goat’s milks, in a set of simultaneous experiments. Levels of serum IgA, IgG and IgE antibodies to the same quantity of the
examined antigens were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results indicate that patients with RAU
with increased immunity to cow’s milk proteins could consider the use of donkey’s milk as the best protein source.

Notes

The authors wish to thank Mrs Tatjana Petrovic for her excellent technical assistance. They also wish to thanks Mr Slobodan Simic ('Special Reserve Zasavica') from the Republic of Serbia for donkey's milk samples and cooperation.

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