ReviewNutrients2018
Human Milk Oligosaccharides and Immune System Development.
Review in Nutrients, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 134 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
134 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 259 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prebiotics and Synbiotics in Asthma: An Integrative Review of Human Trials and Murine Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Dynamic Changes in Human Milk Oligosaccharides in Chinese Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- An Extensively Hydrolyzed Formula Supplemented with Two Human Milk Oligosaccharides Modifies the Fecal Microbiome and Metabolome in Infants with Cow's Milk Protein Allergy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Confirmed Hypoallergenicity of a Novel Whey-Based Extensively Hydrolyzed Infant Formula Containing Two Human Milk Oligosaccharides.Nutrients · 2019Trial
- Decoding the HMO‒microbiome axis: bridging maternal milk to infant health outcomes.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Article
- Ratio-Dependent Regulation of Butyrate Production by 2'-Fucosyllactose and Fructooligosaccharides in aMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Dairy Bioactive Compounds as Precision Modulators of Gut Microbiota: From Molecular Mechanisms to Personalized Immunometabolic Health.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Synthesis of sialylated human milk oligosaccharides by automated glycan assembly.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The Breastfeeding Experiences of Mother-Infant Dyads and the Effects of an FMR1 Mutation.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Seeding the Future: How Feeding Mode Shapes the Infant Gut Microbiota.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Limited Evidence of Benefits from Clinical Trials of Human-Identical Milk Oligosaccharides for Infants.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2026Review
- Transcriptomic comparison of human intestinal organoids and Caco-2 cells in modeling nutrient absorption: insights from infant formula and breast milk.NPJ science of food · 2026Article
- Human Breast Milk-Derived Exosomal FP671120.4 Inhibits Macrophage M1 Polarization via Modulating the ELAVL1/Nrf2 Axis in Sepsis-Associated Liver Injury.The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- 2'-Fucosyllactose transactivates EGF receptor in intestinal epithelial cells for prevention of colitis in adulthood.iScience · 2026Article
- A comprehensive safety evaluation of approved 2'-fucosyllactose for human nutritional applications in China.Frontiers in toxicology · 2026Article
- Gastrointestinal Journey of Human Milk Oligosaccharides: From Breastfeeding Origins to Functional Roles in Adults.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Serum vitamin D and lipid profile differences between breastfed and Formula-fed infants.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Bio fluid exosomes: promises, challenges, and future directions in translational medicine.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Review
74 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Maternal milk contains compounds that may affect newborn immunity. Among these are a group of oligosaccharides that are synthesized in the mammary gland from lactose; these oligosaccharides have been termed human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). The amount of HMOs present in human milk is greater than the amount of protein. In fact, HMOs are the third-most abundant solid component in maternal milk after lactose and lipids, and are thus considered to be key components. The importance of HMOs may be explained by their inhibitory effects on the adhesion of microorganisms to the intestinal mucosa, the growth of pathogens through the production of bacteriocins and organic acids, and the expression of genes that are involved in inflammation. This review begins with short descriptions of the basic structures of HMOs and the gut immune system, continues with the beneficial effects of HMOs shown in cell and animal studies, and it ends with the observational and randomized controlled trials carried out in humans to date, with particular emphasis on their effect on immune system development. HMOs seem to protect breastfed infants against microbial infections. The protective effect has been found to be exerted through cell signaling and cell-to-cell recognition events, enrichment of the protective gut microbiota, the modulation of microbial adhesion, and the invasion of the infant intestinal mucosa. In addition, infants fed formula supplemented with selected HMOs exhibit a pattern of inflammatory cytokines closer to that of exclusively breastfed infants. Unfortunately, the positive effects found in preclinical studies have not been substantiated in the few randomized, double-blinded, multicenter, controlled trials that are available, perhaps partly because these studies focus on aspects other than the immune response (e.g., growth, tolerance, and stool microbiota).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.