Genomic analysis of the cells in Human Breast milk

Saakshi Bangera, DY Patil School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics

Sarah Nyquist is a PhD candidate in MIT’s computational and systems biology department who attempted to use machine learning to understand the genomic composition of breast milk. Along with her co-advisor professors – Alex Shalek and Bonnie Berger, she aimed at using computational tools to study the development of human breasts. After reviewing a wide range of potential project ideas, Nyquist decided to study lactation. She believes the topic of lactation is an overlooked but essential element of human development. Currently, she helps answer the basic questions of the reproductive health of women. 

The team gathered breast milk samples from around fifteen donors and observed the compositional changes it goes through. Samples were collected immediately post-delivery. Following changes were also recorded-

1. The onset of menstruation in mother
2. If the mother is using hormonal medications
3. If the child is sent to daycare

According to their study, these factors could give an insight into any kind of changes occurring in the milk’s composition. 

According to her research, cells in breast milk are mainly composed of a form of structural cells that multiply with time. This highlight can be explained by the property of the high turnover rate of epithelial tissues of breasts during breastfeeding. However, this isn’t a fool-proof explanation, but it adds to the previous understanding of this field. Additionally, a certain type of macrophage was found in breast milk. This finding confirms that breast milk is essential for the early development of the immune system in infants. 

In addition to breast milk, Nyquist applied her expertise to study the organs infected by Covid-19. Nyquist and her team began to explore the cells in their lab. They looked for cells expressing genes whose control can be taken over by the virus. Predictably, they concluded that cells present in the nose, lungs, and intestine, were more prone to allow viral entry. As soon as Nyquist’s results were finalized, they rapidly communicated the same to the public as well as the other scientists. Nyquist believes that this speedy evaluation was possible due to the project’s collaboration with computational tools. 

In summary, Nyquist’s team, through their expertise in computational and systems biology, hint that breast milk is more complicated than expected.

Findings from other studies

Before Nyquist’s thesis, numerous studies have been conducted on human breast milk. 

• One of the many studies demonstrated the presence of stem cell-like cells in breast milk.
• Another finding suggested that the exosomes purified from breast milk were able to stimulate epithelial cell growth in the intestine.
• CK18+ luminal epithelial cells and beta-casein-positive lactocytes (synthesizers of milk proteins) account for the largest portion of the total cells in breast milk. 

Significance of Nyquist’s findings

Since the breast tissue is essential for milk production, it is exceptionally difficult to collect the tissue sample to analyze it. Nyquist’s discovery of breast milk provides an advantage as it can be used to study breast tissue. Nyquist’s research provides a greater insight into the existing biological process that has been considered taboo. There’s a lot that we do not understand about female reproductive health. The complexity of the female body is often overlooked. Using computational and systems biology, we can hope that female reproductive health gets the attention it deserves.

Also read: Multifunctional microstructure found in Beetle’s exoskeleton

Sources:

1. Meiseles, H., & Technology, M. I. of. (2021, June 30). Uncovering the mysteries of milk: Using genomic data to profile the living cells in human breast milk. SciTechDaily.
2. Ninkina, N., Kukharsky, M. S., Hewitt, M. V., Lysikova, E. A., Skuratovska, L. N., Deykin, A. V., & Buchman, V. L. (2019). Stem cells in human breast milk. Human cell, 32(3), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-019-00251-7

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About the author: Saakshi Bangera is currently pursuing MSc in Biotechnology from DY Patil School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics. She doesn’t have any specific area of interest yet, because she believes there’s still a lot left to learn. Although she does wish to explore toxicology and food biotechnology. She is quite passionate about Biotechnology and aims to grab every opportunity she comes across.