Fermentation modifies camel-milk protein fractions (SDS-PAGE/SEC) and associates with lower IgE in an...

Camel milk is widely consumed in regions with an increasing incidence of allergic diseases. Fermentation can reshape milk protein and peptide profiles, which may influence immunoreactivity.

This study aimed to provide preliminary evidence on whether raw camel milk (RCM) and fermented camel milk (FCM) modulate allergic responses in an ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitized mouse model and to contextualize any in vivo effects with sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) profiles.

Female BALB/c mice (n = 21) were assigned to control (n = 6), sham (n = 5), raw camel milk (RCM; n = 5), or fermented camel milk (FCM; n = 5), sensitized, and challenged with ovalbumin. Clinical allergy scores and serum immunoglobulins were assessed (total IgE in all groups; OVA-specific IgE/IgA/IgG2a in sham, RCM, and FCM groups). Milk samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE and SEC.

Fermentation attenuated protein bands in the ~15-35 kDa region and shifted early SEC fractions relative to RCM. In vivo, total IgE differed across groups, driven primarily by lower values in non-sensitized controls; no BH-FDR-adjusted pairwise differences were detected between Sham and RCM/FCM. Antigen-specific immunoglobulins exhibited modest or non-significant changes; clinical scores were numerically lower but small in magnitude.

Fermentation produced reproducible compositional shifts in camel milk, alongside group-level differences in total IgE that were primarily explained by non-sensitized controls rather than significant differences among sensitized groups. Although the effects on clinical scores and antigen-specific antibodies were limited in this small experiment, the data support further work integrating quantitative proteomics/peptidomics and cytokine profiling to clarify the mechanisms.