Just one look at a hypodermic needle is enough to make children – and many adults – cringe. Many may avoid flu, COVID-19, and other shots because they are very painful, or at least feared to be. And others, with insulin-dependent diabetes, have to inject themselves on a regular basis for the rest of their lives.
Imagine if antibodies, hormones for fertility, proteins like insulin, and vaccines could be swallowed instead of taken by injection – and that it would be inspired by the unique properties of human breast milk, which is not only recognized as the primary source of nutrition for newborns but also holds a unique position as a functional food that continues to influence health throughout various stages of life.
This revolution is closer than ever, according to researchers at the Haifa Technion-Institute of Technology who have just published their study in the Journal of Controlled Release under the title “Harnessing the potential of human breast milk to boost intestinal permeability for nanoparticles and macromolecules.”
The study was led by Assistant Prof. Assaf Zinger and doctoral candidate Si Naftaly-Kiros from the Technion’s Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering, with the aim of making possible oral consumption of vaccines and medications that ordinarily are destroyed in the digestive system.
Zinger hopes that his breakthrough innovation could be offered to the public in ten or fifteen years. “As far as we know, we were the first to discover it. I went to Houston, Texas, for post-doctoral studies five years ago. My wife, Noa, gave birth to our second daughter Tamara and was nursing her. Noa got the Moderna vaccine against COVID-19, and she got a moderate fever from it; Tamara, as a newborn, wasn’t vaccinated, but she got the same side effect.
“It was my Eureka moment! I suspected that the baby had gotten the mRNA-vaccine through breastfeeding!” he exclaimed. “We received a European Research Council grant that will allow us to engineer human breast milk biomimetic nanoparticles, dubbed ‘milkosomes,’ with the aim of shuttling oral medicines into the body that under other conditions could not be distributed properly.”
ZINGER, 40, is a member of the Global Young Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. “I came to the Technion to conduct applied science,” he said. “If it doesn’t make it to the clinic, it’s less interesting to me. When I recruit students, I ask them: “Which excites you most – winning a Nobel Prize, becoming a multimillionaire, or saving lives? The third answer is a prerequisite for joining our lab.”
Naftaly completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biotechnology engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Beersheba and worked for four years at the biotech start-up Ukko. She started her doctoral studies at the Technion in April 2022 and, the following year, helped organize the first International Student Conference for Chemical Engineering there and continues to volunteer in various initiatives.
“Breast milk is a remarkable biofluid,” explained Zinger, who received a prestigious European Research Council “Starting Grant” two years ago to develop the artificial particles called “milkosomes” based on nature’s baby food. “This fluid, which a baby consumes, contains a wide range of essential compounds. To impact the baby’s health, these compounds must pass from the digestive system into the bloodstream by crossing the intestinal barrier,” which is a large protective layer separating the inside of the intestine from the bloodstream.
The study, which compared breast milk, cow’s milk, and infant formula, reveals that breast milk exhibited the highest effect on the permeability of the intestinal barrier, which consists of an epithelial cell layer and a mucus layer, acting as a crucial selective barrier that prevents harmful toxins from entering the bloodstream while allowing essential nutrients to pass through.
“If compounds in breast milk can cross this barrier, it means breast milk contains ‘keys’ that enable them to do so, Si Naftaly noted. “What are these keys? That’s what we aimed to uncover in this study.”
Most breast milk donations given to orphaned babies after Oct. 7
DUE TO the catastrophic events of October 7, most breast milk donations in Israel were allocated to orphaned babies whose mothers were victims of war and terror. As a result, the research team launched a local donation initiative within the Technion community to obtain the necessary amounts for newborns.
The university researchers’ paper reveals the answer through a phenomenon they discovered – that the key to nanoparticle transport across the intestinal wall lies in breast milk proteins that create an effect they call Human Breast Milk Protein Corona. This “corona” (having nothing to do with the infamous pandemic) forms a protein coating around the nanoparticle, allowing it to pass through the intestinal layers, which depends on the nanoparticle’s charge. The researchers confirmed their findings in both the human intestinal cell line – cultures of animal cells that can be propagated repeatedly and sometimes indefinitely – and samples of pig intestines.
Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns – and often the only one. It is a complex and dynamic fluid tailored to the infant’s needs, providing enzymes, growth factors, hormones, antibodies, nucleic acids, extracellular vesicles, carbohydrates, lipids (fat molecules), vitamins, minerals, and cells. These components are essential for brain development, immune system function, and microbiome balance in the digestive system.
Unlike formula, breast milk is not uniform; its composition varies significantly and is influenced by multiple maternal factors. In recent years, awareness of breast milk’s medical benefits has surged, and it is now recognized as a natural remedy for various conditions, particularly intestinal diseases.
THE AUTHORS wrote that it is a “complex and dynamic biofluid intricately tailored to meet the evolving needs of infants, providing a diverse array of essential nutrients, antibodies, growth factors, and bioactive compounds crucial for growth, immune system development, cognitive function, and microbial balance within the infant’s gastrointestinal tract.
“In contrast to standardized infant formulas derived from bovine milk, human breast milk presents considerable variation in composition, influenced by factors such as maternal diet and age, lactation stage, and health – and this variability underscores the adaptability of human breast milk, ensuring optimal nutrition tailored to the specific requirements of each infant,” they wrote.
The research was a collaboration of Zinger and Prof. Maya Davidovich-Pinhas from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, together with four students. Notably, one of the co-authors, Topaz Pery, joined the study as an undergraduate student in Zinger’s lab. The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation, the Israel Cancer Research Fund, the Technion’s Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, the Alon Fellowship, the Noam Seiden Fellowship for Nanotechnology and Optoelectronics, and a European Research Council “milkosome” grant.