Elucidation of Mechanism for Preventive and Therapeutic of Koji(Aspergillus orizae NK-Koji)Fermentation Components on Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Terms of Gene Expresssion

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

PURPOSE : The causes of Crohn's disease (CD) are unknown. However oral administration of probiotics and synbiotics may be beneficial, since intestinal contents-and bacteria-related abnormality of immunity is proposed to be involved. In CD, there was obsereved overproduction of inflammatory cytikine such as TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6, and biological preparations and immunosuppressive agents have been administered for restraint or normalization of such overproduction. Here we examined the possibility of prevention and therapy of inflammatory bowel disease by oral administration of koji (Aspergillus orizae NK-Koji) fermentation components containing probiotics and koji.SUBJECTS AND METHODS : We collected the peripheral leucocytes from ten CD patients and analyzed the gene expression using cDNA microarray method. Approximately ten thousands genes were used for the analysis. Crohn' s Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and others were used for disease status and inflammatory index, respectively.RESULTS : There were about 40 up-regulated genes and about 50 down-regulated genes prior to the treatment, compared to the analysis using genes from healthy controls. The expression of some genes was changed during the treatment, and there were about 50 genes whose gene expression might be changed in relation to CD activity. Those genes included THF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-4 and IL-12, and the results were similar to those reported previously.CONCLUSIONS : Oral administration of koji fermentation components containing probiotics and koji resulted in the improvement of CD disease status. One of the mechanisms will be suppression of Th-1 cytokines. It is expected to develop novel diagnosis tools and therapies for CD by the analysis of gene expression of inflammatory cytokines and other genes detected by cDNA microarray method.