The human milk oligosaccharide 2′-fucosyllactose attenuates β-lactoglobulin–induced food allergy through the miR-146a–mediated toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway

Our previous experiments have confirmed that human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) and its main component 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL), as prebiotics, could effectively alleviate cow milk allergy by regulating the intestinal microecology. This study intended to further explore the molecular mechanism of HMO regulating intestinal immunity. The results of the allergic mouse model showed that oral administration of 2′-FL or HMO reduced β-lactoglobulin (β-LG)–induced serum-specific IgE secretion and mast cell degranulation, while reducing the inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-4, and IL-6 production and promoting the miR-146a expression. In vitro results further confirmed that 2′-FL or HMO treatment reduced allergen–induced secretion of iNOS, NO, pro-inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species in RAW264.7 cells. At the same time, in contrast to the β-LG group, 2′-FL dose-dependently inhibited the TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory pathway and upregulated miR-146a expression, and the effect of the 2′-FL mid-dose group was similar to that of the HMO intervention group. In particular, adding miR-146a inhibitors to macrophages attenuated the inhibitory effect of 2′-FL on the expression of TRAF6 and IRAKI in the TLR4 pathway, suggesting that miR-146a might be involved in the immune regulation of 2′-FL. The above results indicated that 2′-FL had a similar effect to HMOs, and its effect of reducing β-LG allergy might be related to the regulation of miR-146a to inhibit TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.