Abstract
Atopic dermatitis (AD) represents a severe inflammatory state of skin diseases affecting enormous percentage of the world's population. Probiotics have been known to modulate immune responses on AD effectively and are being used as potential treatment strategies for the allergic conditions. A probiotic strain Lactobacillus sakei probio-65, previously isolated from Korean traditional fermented food kimchi, has shown multitude of functional and therapeutic efficacy as well as serves as a potent antimicrobial candidate inhibiting the growth of a number of pathogenic microorganisms including Staphylococcus aureus which causes severe skin disorder such as AD. In vitro studies have confirmed that probio-65, in terms of its potent immunostimulating potential, increases the production of nitric oxide and decreases the production of histamine, a potentially harmful biogenic amine. An in vivo study of probio-65 conducted on experimental mice (NC/Nga) revealed that oral administration of live or heat-killed cells of probio-65 had significant (P<0.05) effect on AD and reduced the skin-scratching frequency dramatically. In addition, other tested parameters confirmed that administration of probio-65 cells remarkably decreased the concentration of AD markers including serum levels of IgE, cutaneous T-cell-attracting chemokine (CTACK), interleukin-4 (IL-4), and IL-6. Furthermore, children population associated with AD upon supplementation of probio-65 resulted in an improved reduction in chemokine levels. The results of a double-blind placebo-controlled trial confirmed that "minimum scoring of AD" (mSCORAD score) was lower after the administration of probio-65 than placebo treatment with mean disease activity percentage of 31 % and 13 %, respectively. These findings confirm that probio-65 could be a novel therapeutic candidate for the treatment of AD.