Division of Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2013;3:1563. doi: 10.1038/srep01563.
Influenza A(H1N1)pdm virus caused the first human pandemic of the 21st century. Although various probiotic Lactobacillus species have been shown to have anti-microbial effects against pneumonia-inducing pathogens, the prophylactic efficacy and mechanisms behind their protection remain largely unknown. Here, we evaluated the prophylactic efficacy of heat-killed Lactobacillus pentosus b240 against lethal influenza A(H1N1)pdm virus infection in a mouse model. To further define the protective responses induced by b240, we performed virologic, histopathologic, and transcriptomic analyses on the mouse lungs. Although we did not observe an appreciable effect of b240 on virus growth, cytokine production, or histopathology, gene expressional analysis revealed that oral administration of b240 differentially regulates antiviral gene expression in mouse lungs. Our results unveil the possible mechanisms behind the protection mediated by b240 against influenza virus infection and provide new insights into probiotic therapy.
甲型 H1N1 流感病毒引发了 21 世纪的首次人类大流行。尽管已经证明各种益生菌乳杆菌对引起肺炎的病原体具有抗微生物作用，但它们的保护作用的预防功效和机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里，我们评估了热灭活戊糖片球菌 b240 在小鼠模型中对致死性甲型 H1N1 流感病毒感染的预防功效。为了进一步确定 b240 诱导的保护反应，我们对小鼠肺部进行了病毒学、组织病理学和转录组学分析。尽管我们没有观察到 b240 对病毒生长、细胞因子产生或组织病理学有明显影响，但基因表达分析表明，口服 b240 可在小鼠肺部差异调节抗病毒基因表达。我们的结果揭示了 b240 介导的流感病毒感染保护作用的可能机制，并为益生菌治疗提供了新的见解。
