Immunomodulatory Risk Assessment of Probiotics

Probiotic intake is associated with beneficial effects on the immune system, such as improved disease resistance and reduced risk of allergies. However, immunomodulation is not always beneficial and may induce harmful effects. Creative Enzymes proposes a risk assessment protocol for the immunomodulatory effects of probiotics to help clients evaluate the efficacy and safety of probiotics.

Why Should I Conduct the Immunomodulatory Risk Assessment of Probiotics

Probiotics provide a variety of health benefits to immunocompetent hosts. However, their use in immunodeficient patients may cause certain harmful effects. One of the mechanisms by which some probiotics play an important role is immune stimulation. Immunostimulation is helpful for immunodeficient hosts if probiotics stimulate host resistance to pathogenic bacteria. However, if probiotics can cause harmful inflammatory or autoimmune effects within an immunodeficient host, the immune stimulation induced by probiotics can be harmful to the host.

Creative enzymes use our science to evaluate the potential immune effects of probiotics risk. The safety and efficacy of probiotics in immunodeficient patients have been carefully considered and fully studied to ensure that they do not cause infectious, inflammatory or autoimmune diseases in these susceptible hosts.

Fig. 1 Interaction of prebiotics and probiotics such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species and the immune system. (Gonzalez-Ochoa, 2017)

Our Capabilities

The immunomodulatory effect of probiotics varies depending on the type of bacteria and different experimental models. Therefore, immunomodulation cannot be assessed by a single assay, but a group of assays is needed. Creative Enzymes has proposed a well-developed assay protocol using our expertise. To assess the immunomodulatory effect, the role of probiotics should be studied by in vitro tests, experimental animal models and clinical trials.

In the in vitro assay, we used a series of tests to determine the cytokine profile. We studied the immunomodulatory effects of probiotics in monocytes, macrophages as well as PBMCs. Because it has been shown that probiotics can induce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages and Th1 cytokines in peripheral blood monocytes.

Our cytokine profile results may be predictive of the outcome of the immunomodulatory effects of probiotic strains. However, more information can be obtained from the experimental animal researches that we subsequently provided. We comprehensively evaluated the immunomodulatory risk of probiotics in host resistance model (cellular immunity), allergy model (Th2-mediated immune response), autoimmunity models and contact hypersensitivity models (the latter two are both Th1-mediated immune responses).

Finally, Creative Enzymes are subjected to subsequent clinical validation using the methodology proposed by FAO/WHO, thus ensuring scientifically reliable analytical results for our clients.

Advantages of Creative Enzymes

• Customized assessment solutions.
• Fast turnaround time.
• Competitive pricing.

Creative Enzymes is a professional and experienced probiotic supplier and service provider. Through careful scientific design and attention to detail, our scientists have provided a complete set of scientifically complete testing protocols to evaluate the possible immunomodulatory risks of probiotics. Our evaluation protocol provides a standardized process to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of the impact of probiotics. To get more information, please contact us and we will be happy to serve your research demands.

Reference

1. Gonzalez-Ochoa, G.; et al. Modulation of rotavirus severe gastroenteritis by the combination of probiotics and prebiotics. Archives of microbiology. 2017, 199(7): 953-961.