Cancer
Probiotics and colon cancer
Rafter, J.
Although a myriad of health-promoting effects have been attributed to the probiotic lactic acid bacteria, perhaps the most interesting and controversial is that of anticancer activity, the vast majority of studies in this area dealing with protectiveeffects against colon cancer.There is no direct experimental evidence for cancer suppression in humans as a result of the consumption of probiotic cultures in fermented or unfermented dairy products, but there is a wealth of indirect evidence, based largely on laboratory studies. Reports in the literature regarding the anticancer effects of lactic acid bacteria fall into the categories of in vitro studies, animal studies, epidemiological studies and human dietary intervention studies.
Examples of these reports will be given in the current paper. The mechanisms by which probiotic bacteria may inhibit colon cancer are still poorly understood, but, several potential mechanisms are being discussed in the literature, and these will also be addressed in this review.
Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2003 Oct;17(5):849-59.
On Science Direct
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Potential uses of probiotics in clinical practice
Reid G., Jass J., Sebulsky MT., McCormick J.K.
Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. There is now mounting evidence that selected probiotic strains can provide health benefits to their human hosts. Numerous clinical trials show that certain strains can improve the outcome of intestinal infections by reducing the duration of diarrhea. Further investigations have shown benefits in reducing the recurrence of urogenital infections in women, while promising studies in cancer and allergies require research into the mechanisms of activity for particular strains and better-designed trials. At present, only a small percentage of physicians either know of probiotics or understand their potential applicability to patient care. Thus, probiotics are not yet part of the clinical arsenal for prevention and treatment of disease or maintenance of health. The establishment of accepted standards and guidelines, proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, represents a key step in ensuring that reliable products with suitable, informative health claims become available. Based upon the evidence to date, future advances with single- and multiple-strain therapies are on the horizon for the management of a number of debilitating and even fatal conditions.
Clin Microbiol Rev. 2003 Oct;16(4):658-72.
On CRM
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Bifidobacterium longum as an oral delivery system of endostatin for gene therapy on solid liver cancer
Fu G.F., Li X., Hou Y.Y., Fan Y.R., Liu W.H., Xu G.X.
Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China - Nanjing Military Medical College, Second Military Medical University, Nanjing, China - Jiangsu Research Center for Gene Pharmaceutical Engineering and Technology, Suzhou, China.
To overcome difficulties that hampered widespread application of a specific delivery system in cancer gene therapy and to inhibit the growth of solid liver cancer, we utilized a strain of Bifidobacterium longum as a delivery system to transport an endostatin gene that can inhibit growth of tumor. The B. longum strain with the endostatin gene (B. longum-En) was taken orally by tumor-bearing nude mice through drencher preparation. The results showed that B. longum-En could strongly inhibit the growth of solid liver tumor in nude mice and prolong the survival time of tumor-bearing nude mice. Furthermore, tumor growth was inhibited more efficiently when the B. longum-En treatment included selenium. Enriching the B. longum-En treatment with selenium improves the activity of NK and T cells and stimulates the activity of IL-2 and TNF-alpha in BALB/c mice. These results suggest that B. longum may be a highly specific and efficient vector for transporting anticancer genes in cancer gene therapy.
Cancer Gene Ther. 2004 Nov 26
On Pubmed
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