Probiotic-host interactions for “à la carte’’ probiotics
by Peter BronProbiotics are able to promote health via different molecular modes of actions. This is the outcome of recent studies at NIZO using the latest genomics tools.
In the publication published in the January issue of Nature Review , Dr. Peter Bron, Dr. Peter van Baarlen and Prof. Dr. Michiel Kleerebezem, researchers at NIZO food research, TI Food and Nutrition and Wageningen University (Host-microbes interactomics group), report the latest molecular insights explaining the interaction between probiotics and the host intestinal mucosa.
The authors provide a comprehensive description of probiotic molecules and cognate host signaling and response cascades that are proposed to impact on human health and that can be highly specific for different probiotic species. Understanding the molecular mode of action of probiotic is crucial to enable improved applications of probiotics to support and stimulate human health. It is also strongly recommended by EFSA for the substantiation of probiotic health claims.
In order to better evaluate a person’s response to probiotics, the authors also stress the importance of considering human individual factors - such as genetics, diet, lifestyle, and resident microbiota for instance. Indeed, different probiotic strains may have unique benefits and be tailored for specific applications to meet individual needs. The use of human challenge models (such as pathogen challenge models available at NIZO) is a mean to anticipate the prophylactic effect of different probiotic strainsby triggering a temporal dysbiosis .
This field of research will most likely lead to a more personalized application of beneficial microbes (‘’ à la carte’’ probiotics concept) in the future, while in parallel an expansion of genera considered as probiotics beyond the canonical lactobacilli and bifidobacteria can also be foreseen. Both directions open new routes for industrial development in the probiotic market sector.