Effects and antimicrobial properties of freeze–dried colostrums from different species on breast and pancreatic cancer cell lines

Mammalian colostrum (liquid gold) is a commercially valuable and potentially future functional food with high levels of essential nutrients. In this study, we obtained colostrums from Karayaka sheep (Ovis aries), Saanen goats (Capra aegagrus hircus), Danish red cows (Bos taurus), and buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and determined the effect of these colostrums on MCF–7 breast cancer and AsPC–1 pancreatic cancer cell lines at different doses. In addition, the potential antimicrobial activity of these colostrums against five different bacteria/moulds was determined. For this purpose, antimicrobial activities of lyophilized and dried colostrums were determined by the disc diffusion method, cell viability and cytotoxicity were determined by the MTT test, and migration potentials were determined by wound healing assays. The results showed that these colostrums had similar cytotoxic activities in both AsPC–1 and MCF–7 cancer cell lines, with some minor differences. In addition, in cell migration assays, the MCF–7 cell line treated with cow colostrum showed the most wound closure compared to other colostrums used in the study. We also found that goat and sheep colostrums have a higher antimicrobial effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus niger than cow and buffalo colostrums. Goat colostrum had the highest antimicrobial effect on S. aureus, while buffalo colostrum had the lowest antimicrobial effect on E. coli. In conclusion, analyses of the anticancer and antimicrobial activities of colostrum between species shed light on potential health benefits and functional food production.