ANTIBODIES AGAINST ESCHERICHIA COLI CAPSULAR (K) ANTIGENS IN HUMAN MILK AND SERUM

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Abstract
Specimens of milk, serum and faeces were collected from 23 healthy women, as well as faeces from their newborn infants, at several occasions from one to nine weeks after delivery. The predominating faecal E. coli strains were typed with regard to five different K antigens. The most frequently occurring was K1, followed by K3 and K13. E. coli with the same K antigen was found in only five of the mother‐infant pairs, while ten pairs never had any strain with a common K antigen during the observation period. Milk and serum antibodies were regularly found against a variety of E. coli K antigens using the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. In milk the dominating immunoglobulin class of anti‐K antibodies was secretory IgA, with a high ratio of milk/serum antibody, suggesting a local production in the mammary gland. There were no significant differences of K antibody levels in serum or milk, whether or not the particular K strain was present in the mother's gut flora. The presence of specific K antibodies in serum or milk of the mothers did not prevent colonization of the gut of the infants with E. coli strains carrying the corresponding K antigen.