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Pierre Becquart, Hakim Hocini, Michel Lévy, Abdoulaye Sépou, Michel D. Kazatchkine, Laurent Bélec, Secretory Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Antibodies in Colostrum and Breast Milk Are Not a Major Determinant of the Protection of Early Postnatal Transmission of HIV, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 181, Issue 2, February 2000, Pages 532–539, https://doi.org/10.1086/315255
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Abstract
The immune response to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 was evaluated in breast milk from HIV-infected African mothers who had transmitted and those who had not transmitted HIV to their children through breast-feeding. The levels, specific activities against gp160 and 2 HIV-derived peptides from gp41 and gp120 (V3 loop), and inhibitory activity toward viral transcytosis in vitro of secretory IgA (S-IgA) and IgG purified from breast milk were investigated in 8 transmitting mothers and 18 nontransmitting mothers. S-IgA and IgG antibodies to gp160 and to peptides were found in all breast milk samples. The specific activities of S-IgA and IgG to gp160 and peptides were similar between transmitting and nontransmitting mothers. No difference of the capacity of S-IgA and IgG to block HIV transcytosis in vitro was found between the 2 groups. These results suggest that humoral mucosal immunity to HIV does not appear as a predominant factor for protection against viral transmission through breast milk.