Researchers in Israel are a step closer to replacing injections with swallowable medicines and vaccines.
They’ve done so by developing artificial particles that mimic the properties of human breastmilk.
The problem they’re solving is that the body prevents anything it suspects of being potentially harmful — such as insulin for diabetes and a range of vaccines — from passing out of the intestine into the bloodstream.
But a team at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa realized that breastmilk does cross the baby’s intestinal barrier — the large protective layer of mucus and epithelial cells that allows essential nutrients to enter the bloodstream while blocking suspected toxins.
“If compounds in breastmilk can cross this barrier, it means breastmilk contains ‘keys’ that enable them to do so,” said Si Naftaly, a PhD candidate who jointly led the study.
The team’s challenge was to identify and recreate those keys so that medicine and vaccines could also cross the barrier.
They discovered that certain proteins in human breastmilk form a coating – or a corona – around nanoparticles, which “unlock” the intestinal barrier. Cows’ milk and infant formula can cross the barrier to some extent, but human breastmilk does it best, they concluded.
They describe this effect as the Human Breast Milk Protein Corona.
Milkosomes
Researchers at the Technion’s Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering launched a local appeal for breastmilk because most donations, post October 7, were being allocated to newborns orphaned in the Hamas massacre.
From these donations, they developed “milkosomes” — artificial particles that are based on human milk and mimic exosomes, the nanoparticles responsible for infant development and immune system support.
These milkosomes are able to cross the intestinal barrier.
“Breastmilk is a remarkable biofluid,” said Assistant Prof. Assaf Zinger, who co-led the study.
“It 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.”
The hope is that in the future, milkosomes will be able to deliver medicines and vaccines through the gastrointestinal tract, instead of injections.
The advantage would be that oral medication is generally cheaper and more convenient than a jab . . . and less troubling for anyone squeamish about needles.
The study, “Harnessing the Potential of Human Breast Milk to Boost Intestinal Permeability for Nanoparticles and Macromolecules,” has been published in the Journal of Controlled Release.
