Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inintestinal flora are useful in maintaining good health. Recently,it has been reported that LAB act on the immune mechanism andincrease the body's resistance to infection, cancer andallergy.
In this paper, it was showed that oral administration ofBlfidobacterium breve YIT4064 (B. breve) to mice activated thehumoral immune system, augmented anti-rotavirus lgA production oranti-influenza virus (IFV) IgG production and protected againstrotavirus infection or influenza infection, respectively.Furthermore, when the B. breve was given to infants, there was asignificant reduction of the frequency of rotavirus shedding instool samples during the administration of the bacteria. It wasalso found, again using mice, that oral administration ofLactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) stimulated type 1 helper T(Th1) cells, activated the cellular immune system, inhibitedincidences of tumors, influenza infection and lgE production. Inthe human study, it was demonstrated that oral administration ofLcS into surgical operated patients suppressed the recurrence ofsuperficial bladder cancer in a double-blind clinical trial.
On the basis of both our data and the data of other authors, it wasshowed that some strains of Blfidobacterium and Lactobacillus hadimmunomodulatory activities and were able to protect againstvarious diseases.
Key words: immune function, Iactic acid bacteria, Bifidobacterium,Lactobacillus, humoral immunity, cellular immunity, IgA, IgG, Tcell, B cell, NK cell, rotavirus infection, influenza infection,tumor, allergy, mice, human |
