ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Changes in and relationships between human milk oligosaccharides and microRNAs in milk-derived extracellular vesicles during the first 4 months of lactation
Provisionally accepted
- Morinaga Milk Industry Co., Ltd., Zama, Japan
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Background: Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) exert beneficial effects on the microbiota, resistance to infections, immune development, and brain/cognitive development. Milk-derived extracellular vesicles (MEVs) contain a high abundance of immunity-and development-related microRNAs (miRNAs). These components are abundant in breast milk. In the case of HMOs, the composition varies due to factors such as lactation stages, geographic location, ethnicity, genetics, and the environment. The composition of HMOs is significantly influenced by the genetic status of two key genes: FUT2 (Secretor gene) and FUT3 (Lewis gene). In this study, we broadly categorized into secretor and non-secretor. Methods: We investigated the changes in the concentrations of HMOs and MEVs during 4 months of lactation in Japanese women and explored the relationship between HMOs and miRNAs in MEVs. Results: The concentrations of most HMOs significantly decreased over time. The number of MEVs did not change significantly over the study period. Interestingly, 3'-sialyllactose and lacto-N-fucopentaose Ⅲ were inversely correlated with the many of the top 20 most abundant miRNAs. Moreover, miRNAs in MEVs, which are associated with immunity and development, were more abundant in secretors than in non-secretors during early lactation. Several HMOs were detected in MEVs. Conclusions: This study enabled a detailed characterization of changes in HMOs and MEVs in the breast milk of Japanese women throughout the course of the first 4 months of lactation. A potential association between the concentrations of HMOs and miRNAs was also observed, suggesting that these components might influence each other. These results are of significance for promoting healthy infant development and growth, as well as for improving infant formula composition.
Keywords: Human milk oligosaccharide, extracellular vesicles, microRNA, breast milk, japanese
Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Morozumi, Izumi, Tsuda, Tabata, Nakamura and Miyaji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mai Morozumi, mai-morozumi785@morinagamilk.co.jp
Hirohisa Izumi, h-izumi@morinagamilk.co.jp
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