Sergey Sedykh

By Sergey E. Sedykh, Valentina N. Buneva and Georgy A. Nevinsky

Human milk is a source of biologically active proteins, including lactoferrin (LF) and antibodies (Abs). These proteins are considered as the most polyfunctional proteins of human milk. Apparently, human milk is not a simple mixture of proteins and peptides: recently it was shown that human milk contains stable supramolecular protein complex, composed of LF, α‐lactalbumin, milk albumin, β‐casein, IgG, and sIgA molecules. We believe that the whole set of different biological functions of the individual milk proteins is significantly supplemented by features of their complexes.

Part of the book: Milk Proteins

By Sergey E. Sedykh, Evgeniya E. Burkova, Lada V. Purvinsh, Daria A. Klemeshova, Elena I. Ryabchikova and Georgy A. Nevinsky

Cells of the multicellular organisms communicate with each other in many different ways, among which extracellular vesicles play a unique role. Almost all cell types secrete vesicles into the extracellular space and deliver their contents to recipient cells. Today, one of the groups of extracellular vesicles that is of particular interest for studying is exosomes—membrane vesicles with a diameter of 40–100 nm. Exosomes are secreted by cells and found in various biological fluids—blood, tears, saliva, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, and milk. Exosomes provide not only targeted delivery of molecular signals to recipient cells but also carry unique markers, which makes them a promising substrate in diagnostic studies, primarily due to their small RNA and protein contents. The milk of cows, horses, humans, and other mammals is a unique source of exosomes since these organisms can produce liters of milk per day, which is much higher than the volume of exosomes produced in cell culture fluid or blood plasma. Unfortunately, milk exosomes are currently much less studied than exosomes of blood or culture fluid. This review examines the methods of the isolation, biochemical analysis (composition of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids), morphology, and prospects for the use of milk exosomes.

Part of the book: Extracellular Vesicles and Their Importance in Human Health