The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Volume 119, Issue 5 , Pages 1174-1180 , May 2007

Probiotics in prevention of IgE-associated eczema: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

  • Thomas R. Abrahamsson, MD

      Affiliations

    • From the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Pediatrics
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Thomas R. Abrahamsson, MD, Division of Paediatrics, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping 581 85, Sweden.
    • These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • ,
  • Ted Jakobsson, MD

      Affiliations

    • From the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Pediatrics
    • These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • ,
  • Malin Fagerås Böttcher, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Pediatrics
  • ,
  • Mats Fredrikson, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Linköping University
  • ,
  • Maria C. Jenmalm, PhD

      Affiliations

    • From the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Division of Pediatrics
  • ,
  • Bengt Björkstén, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
  • ,
  • Göran Oldaeus, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, County Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping

Received 28 August 2006 ,Revised 5 January 2007 ,Accepted 8 January 2007.

References 

  1. Holt PG, Björkstén B. Atopic versus infectious diseases in childhood: a question of balance?. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 1997;8:53–58
  2. Björkstén B, Naaber P, Sepp E, Mikelsaar M. The intestinal microflora in allergic Estonian and Swedish 2-year-old children. Clin Exp Allergy. 1999;29:1–5
  3. Kalliomäki M, Kirjavainen PV, Eerola E, Kero P, Salminen SJ, Isolauri E. Distinct patterns of neonatal gut microflora in infants in whom atopy was and was not developing. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2001;107:129–134
  4. Sepp E, Julge K, Vasar M, Naaber P, Björkstén B, Mikelsaar M. Intestinal microflora of Estonian and Swedish infants. Acta Paediatr. 1997;86:956–961
  5. Adlerberth I, Carlsson B, de Man P, Jalil F, Khan SR, Larsson P. Intestinal colonization with Enterobacteriaceae in Pakistani and Swedish hospital delivered infants. Acta Paediatr. 1991;80:602–610
  6. Alfvén T, Braun-Fahrländer CH, Brunekreef B, von Mutius E, Riedler J, Scheynius A, et al. Allergic diseases and atopic sensitization in children related to farming and anthroprosophic lifestyle-the PARSIFAL study. Allergy. 2006;61:414–421
  7. Böttcher MF, Björkstén B, Gustafsson S, Voor T, Jenmalm MC. Endotoxin levels in Estonian and Swedish house dust and atopy in infancy. Clin Exp Allergy. 2003;33:295–300
  8. McKeever TM, Lewis SA, Smith C, Collins J, Heatlie H, Frischer M, et al. Early exposure to infections and antibiotics and the incidence of allergic disease: a birth cohort study with the West Midlands General Practice Research Database. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2002;109:43–50
  9. Guarner F, Schaafsma GJ. Probiotics. Int J Food Microbiol. 1998;39:237–238
  10. Isolauri E, Arvola T, Sütas Y, Moilanen E, Salminen SJ. Probiotics in the management of atopic eczema. Clin Exp Allergy. 2000;30:1604–1610
  11. Rosenfeldt V, Benfeldt E, Dam Nielsen S, Fleischler Michaelsen K, Jeppesen DL, Valerius NH, et al. Effect of probiotic Lactobacillus strains in children with atopic dermatitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003;111:389–395
  12. Weston S, Halbert A, Richmond P, Prescott S. Effects of probiotics on atopic dermatitis: a randomised controlled trial. Arch Dis Child. 2005;90:892–897
  13. Kalliomäki M, Salminen SJ, Arvilommi H, Kero P, Koskinen P, Isolauri E. Probiotics in primary prevention of atopic disease: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2001;357:1076–1079
  14. Kalliomäki M, Salminen SJ, Poussa T, Arvilommi H, Isolauri E. Probiotics and prevention of atopic disease: 4-year follow-up of a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2003;361:1869–1871
  15. Ma D, Forsythe P, Bienenstock J. Live Lactobacillus reuteri is essential for the inhibitory effect on tumour necrosis factor alpha-induced Interleukin-8 expression. Infect Immun. 2004;72:5308–5314
  16. Peňa J, Rogers A, Ge Z, Ng V, Li S, Fox J, et al. Probiotic Lactobacillus spp diminish Helicobacter hepaticus-induced inflammatory bowel disease in Interleukin-10-deficient mice. Infect Immun. 2005;73:912–920
  17. Smits H, Engering A, van der Kleij D, de Jong E, Schipper K, van Capel T, et al. Selective probiotic bacteria induce IL-10-producing regulatory T cells in vitro by modulating dendritic cell function through dendritic cell-specific intercellular adhesion molecule 3-grabbing nonintegrin. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2005;115:1260–1267
  18. Shornikova AV, Casas IA, Mykkänen H, Salo E, Vesikari T. Bacteriotherapy with Lactobacillus reuteri in rotavirus gastroenteritis. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1997;16:1103–1107
  19. Shornikova AV, Casas IA, Isolauri E, Mykkänen H, Vesikari T. Lactobacillus reuteri as a therapeutic agent in acute diarrhea in young children. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 1996;24:399–404
  20. Eom T-H, Oh E-Y, Kim Y-H, Lee H-S, Jang PS, Kim D-U, et al. The therapeutic effect of Lactobacillus reuteri in acute diarrhea in infants and toddlers. Korean J Pediatr. 2005;48:986–990
  21. Weizman Z, Asli G, Alsheikh A. Effect of a probiotic infant formula on infections in child care centers: comparison of two probiotic agents. Pediatrics. 2005;115:5–9
  22. Valeur N, Engel P, Carbajal NY, Connolly E, Ladefoged K. Colonization and immunomodulation by Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 55730 in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2003;70:1176–1181
  23. Wolf BW, Garleb KA, Ataya DG, Casas IA. Safety and tolerance of Lactobacillus reuteri in healthy adult male subjects. Microbial Ecol Health. 1995;8:41–50
  24. Wolf BW, Wheeler KB, Ataya DG, Garleb KA. Safety and tolerance of Lactobacillus reuteri supplementation to a population infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Food Chem Toxicol. 1998;36:1085–1094
  25. Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis: The SCORAD index. Consensus report from the of the European Task Force on atopic dermatitis. Dermatology. 1993;186:23–31
  26. Seymore J, Keswick B, Hanifin JM, Jordan P, Milligan M. Clinical effects of diaper types on skin of normal infants and infants with atopic dermatitis. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1987;17:988–997
  27. Liu CA, Wang CL, Chuang H, Ou CY, Csu TY, Yang KD. Prenatal prediction of infant atopy by maternal but not paternal total IgE levels. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003;112:899–904
  28. Sigurs N, Hattevig G, Kjellman B, Kjellman NI, Nilsson L, Björksten B. Appearance of atopic disease in relation to serum IgE antibodies in children followed up from birth for 4 to 15 years. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1994;94:757–763
  29. Novembre E, Cianferoni A, Lombardi E, Bernardini R, Pucci N, Vierucci A. Natural history of “intrinsic” atopic dermatitis. Allergy. 2001;56:452–453
  30. Viljanen M, Savilahti E, Haahtela T, Juntunen-Backman K, Korpela R, Poussa T, et al. Probiotics in treatment of atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome in infants: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Allergy. 2005;60:494–500
  31. Brouwer ML, Wolt-Plompen SA, Dubois AE, van der Heide S, Jansen DF, Hoijer MA, et al. No effects of probiotics on atopic dermatitis in infancy: a randomized placebo-controlled trial. Clin Exp Allergy. 2006;36:899–906
  32. Vaarala O. Immunological effects of probiotics with special reference to lactobacilli. Clin Exp Allergy. 2003;33:1634–1640
  33. Zeuthen L, Christensen HR, Frøkiær H. Lactic acid bacteria inducing a weak Interleukin-12 and Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha response in human dendritic cells inhibit strongly stimulating lactic acid bacteria but act synergistically with gram negative bacteria. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2005;13:365–375
  34. Jacobsen CN, Rosenfeldt Nielsen V, Hayford AE, Møller PL, Michaelsen KF, Pærregaard A, et al. Screening of probiotic activities of forty-seven strains of Lactobacillus spp. by in vitro techniques and evaluation of the colonization ability of five selected strains in humans. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1999;65:4949–4956
  35. Taylor AL, Dunstan JA, Prescott SL. Probiotic supplementation for the first 6 months of life fails to reduce the risk of atopic dermatitis and increases the risk of allergen sensitization in high-risk children: a randomized controlled trial. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2007;119:184–191

 Supported by grants from BioGaia AB, Stockholm, the Ekhaga Foundation, the Heart and Lung Foundation, the Research Council for the South-East Sweden (grant F2000-106), the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association, the Swedish Research Council, and the University Hospital of Linköping.Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: B. Björkstén has consulting arrangements with BioGala Inc. The rest of the authors have declared that they have no conflict of interest.

PII: S0091-6749(07)00164-9

doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2007.01.007

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Volume 119, Issue 5 , Pages 1174-1180 , May 2007