Short communicationThe influence of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LC705 together with Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp. shermanii JS on potentially carcinogenic bacterial activity in human colon
Introduction
Western diet, rich in animal fat and poor in fiber, is generally associated with an increased risk of colon cancer (Reddy, 2000). It has been hypothesized that the link between diet and colon cancer may be due to the influence of colonic microbiota and bacterial metabolism, both of which are quite evidently involved in the etiology of this disease (McGarr et al., 2005). The intestinal microbiota is capable of hydrolyzing glycosidic linkages (occurring naturally in foods or formed in the liver and excreted via the bile) by producing β-glucosidase, β-glucuronidase and β-galactosidase, leading to the release of potentially carcinogenic compounds (Chadwick et al., 1992). Urease catalyzes the hydrolysis of urea to yield ammonia and carbon dioxide (Burne and Chen, 2000). Ammonia derivatives are highly toxic and can induce mutagenic DNA damage in the host (Burne and Chen, 2000). Some components of the colonic microbiota, such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, have much lower activity in terms of potentially carcinogenic enzymes than do other bacteria such as clostridia and Bacteroides (Wollowski et al., 2001).
Fermented dairy products and probiotic bacteria–mainly lactic acid bacteria, lactobacilli in particular, but also other bacteria such as bifidobacteria and propionibacteria (O'Sullivan et al., 1992)–have been subject to increasing attention in attempts to reduce the risk of colon cancer over the last couple of decades (Saikali et al., 2004). Some epidemiological studies have provided tentative evidence of the protective role of fermented dairy products and probiotics in colon cancer, and limited intervention studies as well as several animal studies suggest that they may have a favorable influence on many host-associated markers. More specifically, certain strains of Lactobacillus (L.) gasseri, L. casei, L. rhamnosus, and L. acidophilus have been reported to reduce β-glucuronidase, β-glucosidase, nitroreductase, and azoreductase activity in healthy humans (Goldin and Gorbach, 1984, Guérin-Danan et al., 1998, Ling et al., 1994, Pedrosa et al., 1995, Spanhaak et al., 1998).
In this study we used two potential probiotic strains, L. rhamnosus strain LC705 (LC705) and Propionibacterium freudenreichii ssp shermanii strain JS (PJS), which originate from cheese. This combination has been shown to reduce the fecal azoreductase activity in the elderly (Ouwehand et al., 2002) and urinary aflatoxin-B-N7-guanine, one of the biomarkers for increased risk of liver cancer in young men (El-Nezami et al., 2006). Both bacteria survive in the human gastrointestinal tract (Myllyluoma et al., 2007). LC705 adheres to human intestinal Caco-2 cell lines in vitro (Lehto and Salminen, 1996). PJS, but not LC705, has also been shown to adhere to mucus from resected human intestinal tissue (Vesterlund et al., 2006).
The aim of this study was to investigate the activity of the fecal enzymes β-glucosidase, β-glucuronidase and urease during the administration of LC705 and PJS as one of the suggested mechanisms whereby probiotic bacteria may reduce the formation of mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds in the human intestine.
Section snippets
Subjects
Thirty-eight men, aged 24–55 years (mean 42 years), were recruited from the personnel of two industrial companies in the Southern Finland by an advertisement. Inclusion criteria, determined by a questionnaire, were a lack of chronic diseases and gastrointestinal diseases as well as no antibiotic use during the last 4 weeks or other regular medication. The study protocol, which had been approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki,
Results and discussion
All 38 subjects completed the study. However, two subjects failed to provide one fecal sample: one at the end of the run-in period, the other at the end of the first treatment period. None of the subjects reported any side-effects, and compliance was good (97% of the capsules were used). No-one used antibiotics. The use of fermented dairy products remained the same during the study. Dietary habits, the intake of energy and the most relevant nutrients, such as fibres, did not differ between the
Acknowledgement
This work was funded by Valio Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.
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