Soluble CD14, Sialic Acid and L-Fucose in Breast Milk and Their Role in Increasing the Immunity of Breast-Fed Infants (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Neonates are exposed to a large number of microorganisms, foreign proteins, chemicals and resistance to infection relies both on the protective factors in milk and on the infant developing his/her own innate and adaptive (antigen-driven) immunity. The neonatal immune system functions differently from that of an adult. Whether one can define the infant's immune system as classically "immunosuppressed" is somewhat debatable. Because antigen exposure occurs in uterus, from an immunological stand point, the infant's cells require considerable "education" in the early postnatal period. T-cell immaturity is contributed by deficiencies in antigen presentation (Kelly and Couttes, 2000).