Camel's milk: A new source of proteins for children with cow's milk allergy?
Résumé
Introduction. Camel's milk proteins have very little homology with cow's Milk proteins, and, in addition, beta-lactoglobulin, the major allergenic protein in cow's milk, is completely absent in camel's milk. Such structural differences may result in different antigenic responses induced by these two milks. In the present work we studied the immunoreactivity of camel's milk proteins using sera from children with confirmed allergy to cow's milk proteins. Methods. We used milk caseins and whey proteins from Targui camels from Southern Algeria and sera from 10 patients allergic to cow's milk proteins confirmed by their clinical history and by skin tests. The immunoreactivity of camel's and cow's milk proteins was studied by indirect Elisa using these sera. Results. All the 10 sera showed reactivity with cow's milk caseins whereas only 4 of them reacted with camel's milk caseins, and these responses were significantly lower (16 to 92%) compared to the responses to cow's milk proteins. In contrast, all of the whey proteins reacted with the patients' sera, but these responses were lower than those with bovine whey proteins (36 to 85% lower). Discussion. Camel's milk proteins appear to have a very weak antigenic potential in comparison to cow's milk proteins, as has been reported in other studies (Restani et al., 2002; Vereda, 2006; El-Agamy et al., 2007; Fiocchi et al., 2010). Conclusion. The use of camel's milk as a substitute for cow's milk carries a certain risk due to its residual immunoreactivity. Nevertheless, due to its low allergenic potential, it could be considered to be used as a substitute for cow's milk for children at risk of developing cow's milk allergy.