Genetically altered probiotics

[crohnicaly stinky]

genetically altered probiotics

http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/news/2011K-February/Probiotic_IBD.html

New Probiotic Combats Inflammatory Bowel Disease

You know the probiotics in your peach yogurt are healthful, but now it appears they may also be a powerful treatment for disease.

A genetically tweaked version of a common probiotic found in yogurt and cheese appears to be an effective therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It may also prove to be useful in colon cancer, another disease triggered by inflammation.

Northwestern Medicine researchers deleted a gene in the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus and fed the new form to mice with two different models of colitis. After 13 days of treatment, the novel probiotic strain nearly eliminated colon inflammation in the mice and halted progression of their disease by 95 percent.

“This opens brand new avenues to treat various autoimmune diseases of the gut, including inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer, all which can be triggered by imbalanced inflammatory immune responses,“ said Mansour Mohamadzadeh, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead investigator of the study. He also is a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The study was published Jan. 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While the origin of these bowel diseases is not known, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are two chronically relapsing diseases in which sufferers have an ongoing tissue inflammation that alters the functioning of the intestine. The diseases affect more than 1 million people in the United States and can cause weight loss, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Current drug treatment is not completely effective and patients can relapse, Mohamadzadeh said.

“Such gene targeting in a probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus offers the possibility of a safe, drug-free treatment in the near future,” he said.

In the study, the modified Lactobacillus acidophilus entered the gut, which is akin to a battlefield of friendly fire with immune cells attacking the intestine. The Lactobacillus acidophilus acted as the gut’s peacekeeping force, calming the overstimulated immune cells.

The probiotic restored intestinal peace by mobilizing messenger immune cells, called dendritic cells. The dendritic cells, in turn, enhanced the production of other functional immune cells, regulatory T-cells that rebalanced intestinal and systemic inflammation.

“They essentially calm everything down and restore it to normal,” Mohamadzadeh explained. The next step will be a clinical trial with the new form of Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Mohamadzadeh and his colleagues at the Lurie Cancer Center are currently researching the effect of the new Lactobacillus acidophilus on colon cancer.

Members of the media, please contact Marla Paul via e-mail or at (312) 503-8928 for more information about this story.

 

[kildare crohnie]

thanks 4 da info...its somthing positive!!

 

[Ekaj]

sounds promising

I joined today specifically to post about this news!

I have crohn's and several years back I was on VSL-3 and when I took about 8 packs a day there was some effect. But I could not afford to keep it up.

The nice thing about the VSL-3 was its negative impact was negligible - unlike 6mp, remicade, salofalk, and sheesh lots of others.

I emailed the Dr. an I'll cut and paste the brief conversation below:



it is ready to conduct clinical trial but i am hoping to find some philanthropists
to help me with some funds.
regards,
mz

> I'm sure you are getting many emails from people like myself that have been
> looking for treatment such as this... but if you get a moment:
>
> What do you think the timeline for FDA approval might be for your modified
> Lactobacillus acidophilus for colitis?



the Dr is Mansour Mohamadzadeh [email protected]

Email him - lets send out the positivity! I hope this goes ahead.


Also briefly I was speaking to my gastro about probiotics at my last visit and he was saying that they actually finally understand the mechanism behind how bacteria communicate with the gut and that the prospects are good.

 

[endibd]

http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/news/2011K-February/Probiotic_IBD.html

New Probiotic Combats Inflammatory Bowel Disease

You know the probiotics in your peach yogurt are healthful, but now it appears they may also be a powerful treatment for disease.

A genetically tweaked version of a common probiotic found in yogurt and cheese appears to be an effective therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It may also prove to be useful in colon cancer, another disease triggered by inflammation.

Northwestern Medicine researchers deleted a gene in the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus and fed the new form to mice with two different models of colitis. After 13 days of treatment, the novel probiotic strain nearly eliminated colon inflammation in the mice and halted progression of their disease by 95 percent.

“This opens brand new avenues to treat various autoimmune diseases of the gut, including inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer, all which can be triggered by imbalanced inflammatory immune responses,“ said Mansour Mohamadzadeh, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead investigator of the study. He also is a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.

The study was published Jan. 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While the origin of these bowel diseases is not known, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are two chronically relapsing diseases in which sufferers have an ongoing tissue inflammation that alters the functioning of the intestine. The diseases affect more than 1 million people in the United States and can cause weight loss, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramping, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Current drug treatment is not completely effective and patients can relapse, Mohamadzadeh said.

“Such gene targeting in a probiotic bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus offers the possibility of a safe, drug-free treatment in the near future,” he said.

In the study, the modified Lactobacillus acidophilus entered the gut, which is akin to a battlefield of friendly fire with immune cells attacking the intestine. The Lactobacillus acidophilus acted as the gut’s peacekeeping force, calming the overstimulated immune cells.

The probiotic restored intestinal peace by mobilizing messenger immune cells, called dendritic cells. The dendritic cells, in turn, enhanced the production of other functional immune cells, regulatory T-cells that rebalanced intestinal and systemic inflammation.

“They essentially calm everything down and restore it to normal,” Mohamadzadeh explained. The next step will be a clinical trial with the new form of Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Mohamadzadeh and his colleagues at the Lurie Cancer Center are currently researching the effect of the new Lactobacillus acidophilus on colon cancer.

Members of the media, please contact Marla Paul via e-mail or at (312) 503-8928 for more information about this story.

This is actually kind of scary and I would love to know who really sponsored the study.

The food companies are always dying to patent something that others can't and then claim exclusive use based on that patent.

Right now as far as yogurt goes, they just make up funny names for existing bacteria, and trademark and copyright the names. But a GM version of a bacteria they can use exclusively, and claim some health benefit is crazy.

Something like this is another step along the way of large companies being able to exclusively produce the food we eat. Kind of the way it's happened to soy and corn and other seeds, most people who consume the products don't realize are happening, as small farmers get pushed aside by the big conglomorates and natural food disappears.

Right now it's happening with seeds. As the natural gene pool gets mixed with the genes from the GM seeds through forces of nature, the companies go around shutting down the competition with lawsuits of patent enfrignement. Same thing can happen with age old bacterial cultures over time.

 

[daven]

Couldn't the genetically-modified lactobacillus acidophilus be made available in yogurt as a medical food? If it could be, it would not need FDA approval and could be available very quickly. Otherwise, it will likely take years.