Whey protein from human breastmilk inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection

Many scientists have reported the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on pregnancy and the virus has been detected in breastmilk. Now a new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in August 2020 shows that whey protein in human breastmilk efficiently prevents infection with SARS-CoV-2 as well as post-entry viral replication.

Milk contains an abundance of useful components such as proteins, minerals, vitamins, and antimicrobial compounds. It antagonizes the activity of viruses like hepatitis C virus (HCV), human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Milk lactoferrin inhibits the intracellular replication of HCV.

The current study aimed to examine the activity of whey protein in human breastmilk against SARS-CoV-2 and the pangolin coronavirus GX_P2V, which is closely related to it.

The researchers found that Vero cells infected with pseudovirus expressing SARS-CoV-2 antigens in the presence of breastmilk, all the milk samples from different donors efficiently inhibited over 98% of infection, in both the original condition and at serial two-fold dilutions....

When repeated with the pangolin CoV, inhibition occurred to almost 100%, and dose-dependent inhibition was observed following two-fold serial dilutions. The EC50 ranged between donors, from 0.34 mg/mL to 0.79 mg/mL, while the milk promoted cell proliferation.

The researchers also found that at varying concentrations from 0.16 mg/mL to 4 mg/mL, human breastmilk showed a dose-dependent inhibition of viral infection. When the supernatant was used to infect other cells, plaque assays showed that all control dishes were positive for the live virus, and the titer went down with dilution of supernatant. However, when treated with 4 mg breastmilk, no live virus was found in any dish. At 0.16 mg/mL, live virus was detected below a supernatant dilution of 1: 1,000 and even below 1: 10,000. Thus, human breastmilk inhibits infectious particle production.

I think I’ll choose the breast milk treatment instead of the convalescent plasma infusion... if my wife approves. ;-)

41 posted on 08/21/2020 7:16:28 PM PDT by House Atreides

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Well, that's good news!

42 posted on 08/22/2020 7:02:23 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)

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