Search

Background: Intestinal inflammation has various causes and leads to some inflammatory diseases, of which autophagy pathway dysfunction could be considered as one of them. Probiotics could have a positive effect on reducing inflammation by activating the autophagy pathway. To evaluate the precise effects of probiotics as preventive and therapeutic agents to control the symptoms of inflammatory diseases, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of Lactobacillus spp. in regulating the autophagy signaling pathway. Methods: A quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction assay was used to analyze the expression of autophagy genes involved in the formation of phagophores, autophagosomes, and autolysosomes after exposing the HT‐29 cell line to sonicated pathogens and adding Lactobacillus spp. before, after, and simultaneously with inflammation. A cytokine assay was also accomplished to evaluate the interleukin (IL)‐6 and IL‐1β level following the probiotic treatment. Results: Lactobacillus spp. generally increased autophagy gene expression and consumption of Lactobacillus spp. before, simultaneously, and after inflammation, ultimately leading to activate autophagy pathways. The proinflammatory cytokines including IL‐6 and IL‐1β decreased after probiotic treatment. Conclusions: Our native probiotic Lactobacillus spp. showed beneficial effects on HT‐29 cells by increasing autophagy gene expression and decreasing the proinflammatory cytokines production in all treatments. Therefore, this novel probiotic cocktail Lactobacillus spp. can prevent and treat inflammation‐related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbapanem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is a globally healthcare crisis. The distribution of plasmids carrying carbapenemase genes among K. pneumoniae poses a serious threat in clinical settings. Here, we characterized the genetic structure of plasmids harboring major carbapenemases (e.g. blaKPC, blaNDM, blaOXA-48-like, and blaGES) from K. pneumoniae using bioinformatics tools. The plasmids carrying at least one major carbapenemase gene were retrieved from the GenBank database. The DNA length, Inc type, and conjugal apparatus of these plasmids were detected. Additionally, allele types, co-existence, co-occurrence of carbapenemase genes, gene repetition, and sequence types of isolates, were characterized. There were 2254 plasmids harboring carbapenemase genes in the database. This study revealed that blaKPC-2, blaNDM-1, blaOXA-48, and blaGES-5 were the most prevalent allele types. Out of 1140 (50%) plasmids were potentially conjugative. IncFII, IncR, IncX3, and IncL replicon types were predominant. The co-existence analysis revealed that the most prevalent of other resistance genes were blaTEM-1 (related to blaKPC), blaOXA-232 (related to blaOXA-48), bleMBL (related to blaNDM), and aac (6′)-Ib4 (related to blaGES). The co-occurrence of carbapenemases was detected in 42 plasmids while 15 plasmids contained carbapenemase gene repetitions. Sequence alignments highlighted that plasmids carrying blaKPC and blaOXA-48-like were more homogeneous whereas the plasmids carrying blaNDM were divergent. It seems that K. pneumoniae utilizes diversity of genetic flexibility and recombination for resistance against carbapenems. The genetic structure of the plasmids showed that class I and III, Tn3 family, Tn5403 family derivatives, and Tn7-like elements were strongly associated with carbapenemases. The mobilizable plasmids carrying carbapenemases play an important role in the spread of these genes. In addition, gene repetition maybe is related to carbapenem heteroresistance. According to MST (minimum spanning tree) results, the majority of plasmids belonged to sequence type (ST) 11, ST14, and ST12. These international clones have a high capacity to acquire the carbapenemase-containing plasmids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative stress, particularly when precipitated by the intake of a diet rich in fats, has the potential to induce an inflammatory state. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the administration of agents possessing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties for the benefit of these patients. The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of postbiotic and paraprobiotic substances to regulate oxidative stress and inflammation. We hypothesized that both postbiotics and paraprobiotics could demonstrated significant efficacy in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, with distinct differences in their effectiveness. A total of 88 Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains were assessed for antioxidant activity. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups: HFD + PBS, HFD + DSS, HFD + DSS + postbiotic, and HFD + DSS + paraprobiotic. Various parameters, including weight change, disease activity index, and gene expression analysis, as well as enzymes involved in oxidative activities and inflammation were evaluated after treatment with derivatives of six selected strains. In comparison with the groups exposed to DSS, mice treated with a combination of postbiotic and paraprobiotic alongside DSS exhibited a reduction in DSS-induced negative effects on both phenotypical characteristics and molecular indices, particularly the Nrf2- and NF-kB-related genes, with a notable focus on postbiotic. Based on the results, it can be inferred that despite the utilization of an unhealthy regime that may worsen oxidative stress and inflammation, the condition can be efficiently controlled by employing secure variations of probiotics, such as paraprobiotic and postbiotic components, with a particular emphasis on postbiotics., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2025 The Author(s). Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Colon microbiome composition in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients undergoes remarkable changes. The present study was designed to assess the impact of Lactobacillus mixture on the regulating the CRC by influencing the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling pathway in both in vitro (HT-29 cancer cells) and in vivo (BALB/c mice) models., Methods: In this study, the antiproliferative effect of a native potential probiotic Lactobacillus mixture on HT-29 cancer cells was evaluated using the MTT assay method. Also, qRT-PCR was performed to assess the RNA expression level of genes associated with the TGF-β signaling pathway at three levels: receptor, regulatory, and inhibitory SMADs. Finally, the in vivo assays were investigated by three groups of mice: a naive group (PBS), a disease group (azoxymethane [AOM]/ dextran sulfate sodium [DSS] + PBS), and a treatment group (AOM/DSS + Lactobacillus mixture in PBS)., Results: The MTT results showed a significant decrease in proliferation of HT-29 cancer cells after 120 h of treatment. Furthermore, qRT-PCR demonstrated the downregulation of the smad2/3 gene expression in HT-29-treated cells and also reduction in the level of smad4 gene expression. In addition, in the mouse model, the tgf-βR1 gene was downregulated in the group treated with AOM/DSS/Lactobacillus, but not the AOM/DSS group. A downregulation of smad4 gene expression was also observed in in vivo models., Conclusion: The obtained results suggest that our novel probiotic Lactobacillus mixture could have a positive impact on the inhibition of the CRC progression by downregulating the TGF-β signaling pathway.