Drinking cow milk-derived nanovesicles for a healthy gut
The goal of this consortium is to restore or maintain the barrier function, immunity and/or microbiome of the intestinal tract (gut) using extracellular vesicles isolated from cow milk. These extracellular vesicles are nano-sized particles released by cells and found in all body fluids, including milk. It was recently recognised that these vesicles contain many signaling molecules and as such play an important role in the cell-to-cell communication and are often found to be bioactive cross-species.
In the general population worldwide, every 1 out of 7 men and 1 : 4 women have gastric and intestinal complaints, in total 2 million people in the Netherlands. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD; ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD)) has become a global burden with a prevalence that surpasses 0.3%. The COIN study shows that the annual healthcare costs per person in the Netherlands are high (7.5k€ for CD and 3.5k€ for UC) and even increasing with the use of biological medicines. The societal costs are far greater due to loss of productivity. Patients with IBD have a higher risk of developing autoimmunity such as rheumatoid arthritis (1.7xUC, 2.3xCD) and colon- and rectal cancer (2x).
The REFIT consortium includes three partners. At the Radboudumc, a large-scale isolation method will be developed for cow-milk extracellular vesicles (mEVs) and their functionality will be evaluated on in vitro models of intestinal permeability and gut-immune response. FrieslandCampina will play an integral role by supplying processed milk sources and by sharing their knowledge on scalability and quality control processes. The University of Applied Sciences Utrecht will be vital in performing in dept human intestinal organoid studies including the cross-talk with the host-microbiome ecosystem.
This study will provide the evidence that mEVs have the capacity to restore bowel function and gut immunity and can be used as a supportive therapy in the near future.
