Can immunobiotics beneficially modulate hemato-immune responses in immunocompromised hosts?

Abstract

In the present chapter, we revised the progress in the influence of immunobiotic LAB on cells involved in the innate and adaptive immune response with special emphasis in the recovery of the lymphopoiesis and myelopoiesis. The results described and discussed here showed that the deterioration of the immune system in immunocompromised hosts often involves the impairment of the bone marrow hematopoiesis. Hence, we can expect that the improvement of the immune response induced by probiotics in these populations is intimately related with the recovery of hematopoiesis. On the other hand several works have showed that circulating hematopoietic and progenitor stem cells may act as sentinels of infection, serve as readily available precursors of mature blood leukocytes, or participate as effectors themselves. Moreover, hematopoietic and progenitor stem cells can secrete inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, and antimicrobial peptides and may participate in the response to invading pathogens. Then, the influence of immunobiotics on the recovery of hematopoietic cells could be useful in pathologies that affect the hematopoiesis, such as those associated to administration of immunosuppressive drugs. Even though many interactive events may be human specific, animal models will continue to bring important new insights into the mechanisms involved in immunobiotics actions. The influence of probiotic LAB on hematopoiesis is the result of the combinatory effects of different immune cells interacting with probiotics. Hence, further research is required to study the effect of specific probiotics in the recovery of hematopoiesis in immunocompromised hosts. However, the results revised here give the basis for future research applications.