Antibacterial and immunostimulating casein-derived substances from milk: Casecidin, isracidin peptides

Apart from immunoglobulin A and G antibodies and plasma cells, milk also contains antibiotic/host protective peptides that are of value not only for maintenance of its nutritional integrity but also for protection of the newborn and, possibly, protection of the lactating mother. Among the first such peptides identified was casecidin; following chymosin digestion of casein at pH 6 or 7, casecidin inhibited in vitro staphylococci, sarcina, Bacillus subtilis, Diplococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes. Inhibition occurred at high concentrations, in vitro, compared with commercial antibiotics, and thus interest in casecidin languished. Work with casecidin was followed by investigation of a related refined non-immunogenic product of chymosin digestion of αs1-casein. This product consisted of the N-terminal segment (1–23) of αs1-casein B, named ‘isracidin’, and was significantly effective in vivo at concentrations that were competitive with known antibiotics, as seen in the protection of mice against lethal infection by Staphylococcus aureus strain Smith. Field trials showed that injection of isracidin into the udder gave protection against mastitis in sheep and cows. Isracidin was both therapeutic and prophylactic and responses to its therapeutic effect produced long-term immune resistance. Isracidin protected mice against Candida albicans, by stimulation of both phagocytosis and immune responses. However, like other recently described milk-derived peptides, despite its clinical value, isracidin was overlooked because of the lack of commercial interest, in the 1970s and early 1980s, in host-mediated non-specific resistance as a therapeutic approach to infection. Another problem that impeded commercial interest was the isomeric variation in isracidin peptides seen on large-scale batch production for commercial use. It is hoped that this review of previous studies of the activity of isracidin action will revive interest in milk as an antibiotic source.