Comfort food: Probiotic-derived product protects in model of intestinal inflammation
2011-05-24
(Press-News.org) Many people tout the beneficial effects of probiotics in preventing and/or treating several intestinal diseases, including ulcerative colitis. Although there have been few, if any, good clinical studies evaluating the clinical efficacy of probiotics, preclinical data suggest that probiotics and approaches utilizing probiotic-derived products could be effective therapies for acute and chronic gastrointestinal disorders. In this context, a team of researchers, led by Fang Yan, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, have now identified a new probiotic bacteria–derived soluble protein that can protect intestinal cells from inflammation and injury and unraveled its mechanism of action. Importantly, specific delivery of the protein (p40) to the colon provided therapeutic and prophylactic protection in several mouse models of colitis. The authors suggest that their data provide rationale for the development of probiotic-derived proteins as reagents for preventing and/or treating ulcerative intestinal inflammatory disorders.
In an accompanying commentary, Fayez Ghishan and Pawel Kiela, at the University of Arizona, Tucson, concur with this position, although they caution that further work in humans is needed.
INFORMATION:
TITLE: Colon-specific delivery of a probiotic-derived soluble protein ameliorates intestinal inflammation in mice through an EGFR-dependent mechanism
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Fang Yan
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Phone: 615.343.5021; Fax: 615.343.5323; E-mail: fang.yan@vanderbilt.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/44031?key=24d663bbebde11d8c23d
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY
TITLE: From probiotics to therapeutics: another step forward?
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Fayez K. Ghishan
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Phone: 520.626.5170; Fax: 520.626.7176; E-mail: fghishan@peds.arizona.edu.
View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/58025?key=9172d5ef2e96a5eda4f0
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2011-05-24
EDITOR'S PICK: Comfort food: probiotic-derived product protects in model of intestinal inflammation
Many people tout the beneficial effects of probiotics in preventing and/or treating several intestinal diseases, including ulcerative colitis. Although there have been few, if any, good clinical studies evaluating the clinical efficacy of probiotics, preclinical data suggest that probiotics and approaches utilizing probiotic-derived products could be effective therapies for acute and chronic gastrointestinal disorders. In this context, a team of researchers, led by Fang ...
2011-05-24
Men who visit art galleries, museums, and the theatre regularly tend to enjoy better health and are more satisfied with life, reveals a study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The study found that both men and women who play musical instruments, paint or visit the theatre or museums felt in better health, enjoyed life more, and were less likely to be anxious or depressed then people who do not participate in cultural activities.
However, the effect was most pronounced in men who were interested in watching and looking at culture ...
2011-05-24
The number of children taken to emergency care departments with common medical problems has risen sharply over the past decade, reveals a study published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.
During the past 10 years, the way that the NHS provides care at night and at weekends for common medical problems has changed.
The family doctor is no longer responsible for providing that care and advice to worried parents, with large private companies now generally contracted to provide this instead.
Researchers looked at the medical records of children under the age of 15 ...
2011-05-24
More than four fifths of children who turn up at emergency departments with head injuries in the UK are seen in hospitals which would have to transfer them if the injury was serious, reveals a study published online in Emergency Medicine Journal.
Around 210,000 children attend hospital every year with a head injury and around 34,500 are admitted. A few children with serious head injuries will require emergency surgery and intensive care, and delays to the provision of this can prove fatal or result in severe disability.
The authors surveyed 245 hospitals in England, ...
2011-05-24
Coronary computed tomographic (CT) angiography, which can detect plaque buildup in heart vessels, is sometimes used as a screening tool to assess the risk for a heart attack. However, the usefulness of the test on low-risk patients who do not have coronary symptoms, such as chest pain, has been unclear.
In the first large population study to assess the impact of the test on physicians and patients, Johns Hopkins cardiologists found that having CT angiography leads to more prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering medications and aspirin, as well as more stress tests, nuclear ...
2011-05-24
OAKLAND, Calif., May 23, 2011 – Compared with women whose weight remained stable, body mass index gains between the first and second pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in the second pregnancy. But losing weight between the first and second pregnancies appeared to reduce GDM risk in a second pregnancy, particularly for women who were overweight or obese to begin with, according to a Kaiser Permanente Division of Research study appearing online in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
GDM is associated with an increased risk ...
2011-05-24
(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School have found targeting patient navigation to black and non-English speaking patients may be one approach to reducing disparities in colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings. These findings appear in the May 23 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. and is preventable through screening. Nevertheless, about 40 percent of eligible adults in the U.S. and more foreign born U.S. residents ...
2011-05-24
TEMPE, Ariz. – The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of taxonomists from around the world – scientists responsible for species exploration and classification – announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2010. The May 23 announcement coincided with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who was responsible for the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications.
On this year's top 10 new species list are a leech with enormous teeth, an iron-oxide consuming ...
2011-05-24
A protein isolated from beneficial bacteria found in yogurt and dairy products could offer a new, oral therapeutic option for inflammatory bowel disorders (IBD), suggests a study led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researcher Fang Yan, M.D., Ph.D.
The study, published May 23 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows that the protein, called p40, was effective as an intervention in animal models of colitis (colon inflammation). The investigators demonstrated that the protein supports intestinal epithelial cell growth and function, and reduces inflammatory ...
2011-05-24
Among low-income patients who are black or whose primary language is not English, patient navigators may help improve colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates, according to a report in the May 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The article is part of the journal's Health Care Reform series.
According to background information in the article, CRC is one of the country's main causes of cancer deaths. "Nevertheless," the authors write, "approximately 40 percent of eligible adults in the United States and more foreign-born U.S. residents ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Comfort food: Probiotic-derived product protects in model of intestinal inflammation
