“…To better understand immunological responses, the co-culture system of IECs and peripheral blood mononuclear cells may be applied for studying cytokine modulation by different bacteria (Parlesak et al, 2004;Pozo et al, 2010;Pozo-Rubio et al, 2011) and could give valuable insight into immune-modulatory effects of synbiotics before testing in humans, which is especially relevant for at-risk groups such as premature infants, elderly, immunocompromised individuals suffering from, e.g., inflammatory bowel diseases.…”