iScience . Identified human breastmilk compositions effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and variants infection and replication

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iScience


. 2022 Mar 22;104136.
doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104136. Online ahead of print.
Identified human breastmilk compositions effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 and variants infection and replication


Xinyuan Lai ¹ , Yanying Yu ² , Wei Xian ¹ , Fei Ye ³ , Xiaohui Ju ² , Yuqian Luo ⁴ , Huijun Dong ¹ , Yi-Hua Zhou ^{4 5} , Wenjie Tan ³ , Hui Zhuang ^{1 6} , Tong Li ^{1 6} , Xiaoyun Liu ¹ , Qiang Ding ² , Kuanhui Xiang ^{1 6}



Affiliations

• PMID: 35342878
• PMCID: PMC8937612
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104136

Abstract

The global pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection confers great threat to the public health. Human breastmilk is a complex with nutritional composition to nourish infants and protect them from different kinds of infectious diseases including COVID-19. Here, we identified lactoferrin (LF), mucin1 (MUC1) and α-lactalbumin (α-LA) from human breastmilk inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection using a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus system and transcription and replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 virus-like-particles (trVLP). Additionally, LF and MUC1 inhibited multiple steps including viral attachment, entry and post-entry replication, while α-LA inhibited viral attachment and entry. Importantly, LF, MUC1 and α-LA possessed potent antiviral activities towards variants such as B.1.1.7 (alpha), B.1.351 (beta), P.1 (gamma) and B.1.617.1 (kappa). Taken together, our study provides evidence that human breastmilk components (LF, MUC1 and α-LA) are promising antiviral and potential therapeutic candidates warranting further development or treating COVID-19.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; breastmilk; lactoferrin; liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; mucin 1; α-lactalbumin.