So Jae-Seon, Lee Choong-Gu, Kwon Ho-Keun, Yi Hwa-Jung, Chae Chang-Suk, Park Jin-A, Hwang Ki-Chul, Im Sin-Hyeog
Department of Life Sciences, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
Mol Immunol. 2008 Nov;46(1):172-80. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2008.07.038. Epub 2008 Sep 19.
Probiotics have been shown to exert beneficial effects on modulation of diverse diseases. However, no information is available for the effect of probiotics in the induction of oral tolerance in autoimmune diseases. The main purpose of this study was to elucidate whether Lactobacillus casei (L. casei) affect the induction of oral tolerance in experimental rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Type II collagen (CII) alone or together with L. casei was orally administered into collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats, and its effects on the clinical and histopathological aspects of RA were investigated. Co-administration of L. casei with CII more effectively suppressed clinical symptoms, paw swelling, lymphocyte infiltration and destruction of cartilage tissues of experimental arthritis than the rats treated with CII alone. The enhanced therapeutic efficacy was associated with an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10 and TGF-beta) while decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-6, IL-12, IL-17, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha). Co-administration of L. casei with CII more effectively suppressed CII-reactive T cell proliferation and the levels of Th1-type IgG isotypes (IgG2a and IgG2b), while up-regulating Foxp3 expression levels and the population of Foxp3(+) CD4(+) T cells. Our study provides evidence that L. casei could potentiate antigen-specific oral tolerance and suppress Th1-type immune responses of arthritic inflammation.
益生菌已被证明对多种疾病的调节具有有益作用。然而，关于益生菌在自身免疫性疾病中诱导口服耐受的作用尚无相关信息。本研究的主要目的是阐明干酪乳杆菌（L. casei）是否影响实验性类风湿性关节炎（RA）中口服耐受的诱导。将单独的II型胶原蛋白（CII）或与L. casei一起口服给予胶原诱导性关节炎（CIA）大鼠，并研究其对RA临床和组织病理学方面的影响。与单独用CII治疗的大鼠相比，L. casei与CII共同给药能更有效地抑制实验性关节炎的临床症状、爪肿胀、淋巴细胞浸润和软骨组织破坏。增强的治疗效果与抗炎细胞因子（IL-10和TGF-β）增加而促炎细胞因子（IL-1β、IL-2、IL-6、IL-12、IL-17、IFN-γ和TNF-α）减少有关。L. casei与CII共同给药能更有效地抑制CII反应性T细胞增殖以及Th1型IgG同种型（IgG2a和IgG2b）水平，同时上调Foxp3表达水平和Foxp3(+) CD4(+) T细胞群体。我们的研究提供了证据，表明L. casei可增强抗原特异性口服耐受并抑制关节炎炎症的Th1型免疫反应。
