Immunocal

Oxidative Stress in Cancer, AIDS, and Neurodegenerative Diseases
edited by LUC MONTAGNIER Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Institut Pasteur Paris, France RENE OLIVIER Institut PasteurParis, France CATHERINE PASQUIER Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Faculte Xavier-Bichat INSERM U294 Paris, France

Nutriceutical Modulation of Glutathione with a Humanized Native MilkSerum Protein Isolate, IMMUNOCAL TM : Application in AIDS and Cancer Sylvain Baruchel and Ginette Viau McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ReneOlivier Pasteur, Institute Paris, France Gustavo Bounous Montreal General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Mark A. Wainberg Jewish General Hospital, Lady Davis Institute, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaNUTRITIONAL IMMUNOMODULATION AND ITS RELATION TO GLUTATHIONE SYNTHESIS Fresh, raw milk includes the group of proteins that remain soluble in "milk serum." These proteins can be preserved in theirnative form if extracted carefully from their natural source. In 1981 it was discovered that normal mice fed a milk serum protein concentrate (specially prepared under mild nondenaturing conditions)exhibited a marked increase in the humoral immune response to a T helper cell-dependent antigen (1). In the following years, numerous experiments confirmed the consistency of this phenomenon (2-10). Over aperiod of 12 years and based on these findings a humanized native milk serum protein isolate (HNMPI) named Immuocal™ was developed (Immunotec Research Corporation Ltd., Montreal, Quebec, Canada). Thisproperty was found to be related, at least in part to a greater production of splenic glutathione (L-.-glutamylcysteinylglycine) (GSH) during the oxygen-requiring antigendriven clonal expansion ofthe lymphocyte pool in animals fed with this bioactive HNMPI (9). Adequate levels of GSH are necessary for lymphocyte proliferation in the development of the immune response (11,12). Moderate but...