Insights into HMO Mechanisms of Action: Sugar Recognition

Dr Richard Cummings explains advanced high-throughput methods used to identify proteins that bind to HMOs, and methods to identify effects of these HMOs on human blood cells. He explains that the occurrence of different HMO structures in human milk is partly determined by individual differences and genetics, such as ‘secretor’ status.

These different HMO structures have different capacities to bind human proteins expressed on the surface of gut epithelial cells and blood cells, which may be important in influencing immune responses in the developing infant. HMOs may also bind directly to proteins expressed on pathogenic bacteria in the infant gut, thereby functioning as decoy receptors that prevent colonization of those bacteria along the gut lining.

Methods developed by Dr Cummings are thus enabling functional characterization of the human milk ‘glycome’—the sum total of HMOs that occur in human milk.