Probiotics for the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Probiotics are organisms which provide a desired and beneficial effect on human health. With recent evidence implicating a disruption in the balance of the gastrointestinal microbiome and intestinal immunity as a potential trigger for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), there has been growing interest in using probiotics as an adjunct to standard anti-inflammatory and immune suppressing therapy. Animal models describe potential and plausible mechanisms of action for probiotics to counter inflammation of colonic mucosa. Although there are insufficient data to recommend probiotics in ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, good evidence supports the use of specific probiotics for maintenance of remission in pouchitis. Although there are limited regulatory standards for the agents, probiotics are relatively safe with minimal reported side effects or contraindications. More rigorous studies need to be published supporting efficacy and safety of these agents before they become a mainstay of IBD medical treatment.

Specific probiotic dietary supplementation leads to different effects during remission and relapse in murine chronic colitis

“…Accumulated data indicates that probiotics restore the intestinal microbial balance and modulate the immune response (Ringel et al, 2012). In addition, there is reasonable evidence supporting the applicability of specific probiotics in intestinal disease like IBD (Ringel et al, 2012;Veerappan et al, 2012). This was also demonstrated in our previous study using a preventive approach in a mouse model of colitis.…”

Enhacement of the Viability of <i>Lactobacillus</i> <i>plantarum</i> during the Preservation and Storage Process Based on the Response Surface Methodology

“…Numerous studies have conducted on the efficacy of probiotics in improving human health [1]- [4] and more recently in animal health [5]- [7].…”

Microbial Neuro-Immune Interactions and the Pathophysiology of IBD

“…Probiotic treatment in IBD patients has, to date, not being as successful as in, for example, patients with pouchitis when compared to current treatments in UC patients. In CD patients, probiotic treatment appears to be even less beneficial [191][192][193]. Verrucomicrobia are a mucus-degrading group of bacteria that seems to affect intestinal barrier function through the degradation of the epithelial mucus layer [194] and some Verrucobacteria spp such as Akkermancia muciniphila alleviate experimental colitis and can also mediate intestinal immune tolerance [195,196].…”