Abstract

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

Aim:
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.

Methods:
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.

Results:
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.

Conclusion:
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.

Key words: Allergy; Camel milk; Fermentation; Immunoglobulin E; Murine model.