Autism Studies and Related Medical Conditions, January 2009 - TACA

the secretion of inflammatory mediators, and promotion of the development of the
immune system. Better understanding of the effects of different probiotic strains and
deeper insight into the mechanisms of the heterogeneous manifestations of atopic
disease are needed for the validation of specific strains carrying anti-allergic potential."
212. Cross ML. Immune-signalling by orally-delivered probiotic bacteria: effects on
common mucosal immunoresponses and protection at distal mucosal sites. Int J
Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2004 May-Aug;17(2):127-34. PMID: 15171813
"Probiotics--orally-delivered preparations of non-pathogenic bacterial cells--have been
reported to increase anti-microbial protection in the gastrointestinal tract environment,
and offer a safe and effective non-pharmaceutical means for combating infectious
diseases and certain other pathologies. There is also an increasing body of evidence to
suggest that immunostimulation by probiotic bacteria in the gut can enhance immune
protection at distal mucosal sites, such as the urogenital and respiratory tracts. This
review summarises the current information, from both clinical and animal model
studies, of a role for orally-delivered probiotics in modulating mucosal
immunoresponses and protection at distal sites. While it is clear that probiotics hold
promise in this area, research that is targeted toward identifying the mechanism driving
stimulation of the common mucosal immune system, as well as patterns of mucosal
tissue homing by immunocytes following probiotic-mediated signalling in the gut, is
strongly encouraged."
213. Drakes M et al. Bacterial probiotic modulation of dendritic cells. Infect Immun.
2004 Jun;72(6):3299-309 PMID: 15155633
"Intestinal dendritic cells are continually exposed to ingested microorganisms and high
concentrations of endogenous bacterial flora. These cells can be activated by infectious
agents and other stimuli to induce T-cell responses and to produce chemokines which
recruit other cells to the local environment. Bacterial probiotics are of increasing use
against intestinal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease. They act as
nonpathogenic stimuli within the gut to regain immunologic quiescence. This study was
designed to determine the ability of a bacterial probiotic cocktail VSL#3 to alter cell
surface antigen expression and cytokine production in bone marrow-derived dendritic
cell-enriched populations. Cell surface phenotype was monitored by monoclonal
fluorescent antibody staining, and cytokine levels were quantitated by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay. High-dose probiotic upregulated the expression of C80, CD86,
CD40, and major histocompatibility complex class II I-Ad. Neither B7-DC or B7RP-1 was
augmented after low-dose probiotic or Lactobacillus casei treatment, but B7RP-1
showed increased expression on dendritic cells stimulated with the gram-negative
bacterium Escherichia coli. Functional studies showed that probiotic did not enhance the
ability of dendritic cells to induce allogeneic T-cell proliferation, as was observed for E.
coli. Substantial enhancement of interleukin-10 release was observed in dendritic cellenriched
culture supernatants after 3 days of probiotic stimulation. These results
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