Previous study suggested that dietary intake of Lactobacillus plantarum 06CC2 (LP06CC2) isolated from Mongolian dairy products showed various health beneficial effects. Here, the effect of LP06CC2 on the cholesterol metabolism in mice fed a cholesterol‐loaded diet was evaluated. Cholesterol and LP06CC2 were incorporated into the AIN93G‐based diet to evaluate the effect on cholesterol metabolism in Balb/c mice. Serum and liver cholesterol levels were significantly increased in mice fed a cholesterol‐loaded diet whereas the LP06CC2 ingestion suppressed the increase of liver cholesterol. LP06CC2 suppressed the increase of the hepatic damage indices. The increase of the cecal content and fecal butyrate were observed in mice fed LP06CC2. The analysis of bile acids clearly showed that LP06CC2 increased their deconjugation indicating the decrease of bile acid absorption. The protein expression of hepatic Cyp7A1 was also suppressed by LP06CC2 in mice fed cholesterol. Finally, in vitro studies showed that LP06CC2 had the most potent ability to deconjugate bile acids using glycocholate among the tested probiotic lactic acid bacteria isolated from Mongolian dairy products. Taken together, LP06CC2 is a promising microorganism for the reduction of the cholesterol pool via modulation of bile acid deconjugation.

The interaction between the gut microbiota and the host can influence the host’s immune system. Bifidobacterium, a commensal genus of gut bacteria, seems to have positive effects on host health. Our previous clinical research showed that B. longum subsp. longum BB536 enhanced innate and adaptive immune responses in elderly individuals with a lower grade of immunity, but the immunomodulatory mechanism is still unclear. In this study, dendritic cell (DC) surface markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from healthy individuals were evaluated through coculture with heat-killed BB536. DC markers, innate immune activity and cytokine levels in plasma were also evaluated by a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study (UMIN000045564) with 4 weeks of continuous live BB536 intake. BB536 significantly increased the expression of CD86 and HLA-DR on plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in vitro. Compared to placebo (n = 48), a significant increase in the expression of CD86 on peripheral pDCs was detected at week 4 of live BB536 intake (n = 49; 1 × 10¹⁰ CFU/day). Furthermore, coculture with hk-BB536 significantly increased the IFNγ expression level and demonstrated trends of increased IFNα1 and IFNβ expression. These findings suggest that consumption of BB536 has potential immunomodulatory effects on healthy individuals through the activation of peripheral pDCs.

Probiotics are widely used in food for their health benefits to the host. Inactivated probiotics also reportedly improve the intestinal environment and immune regulation. Our previous studies showed that heat‐killed Lacticaseibacillus paracasei MCC1849 (hk‐MCC1849) effectively induced IL‐12 production in mouse spleen cells and significantly reduced cold symptoms in clinical trial subjects. To further elucidate the mechanism of host immune regulation by hk‐MCC1849, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cocultured with hk‐MCC1849. The Toll‐like receptor 9 ligands CpG‐ODN 2216 and hk‐MCC1849 and the heat‐killed Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus ATCC53103 were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. The results showed that, compared with the control, hk‐MCC1849 significantly increased the expression of the plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC) marker CD86 (p < .0001) and the pDC marker HLA‐DR (p < .001) in PBMCs. The expression levels of the IL‐12p40, IFNα, IFNα1, IFNγ, and ISG15 genes were significantly increased after coculture with hk‐MCC1849 (p < .05, p < .05, p < .05, p < .05, and p < .05, respectively, vs. control). Furthermore, to confirm whether hk‐MCC1849 directly interacted with pDCs, DCs were enriched with PBMCs following 24 h of coculture with hk‐MCC1849. Phagocytosis of fluorescently labeled hk‐MCC1849 by pDCs was observed, and there were significant increases in CD86 (p < .05) and HLA‐DR (p < .0001) expression in pDCs. These results suggest that hk‐MCC1849 exerts a potential immunomodulatory effect on the host through the activation of peripheral pDCs.

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in females. A number of prognostic markers have been identified, including single genes, multi-gene signatures and network modules; however, the robustness of these prognostic markers is insufficient. Thus, the present study proposed a more robust method to identify breast cancer prognostic modules based on weighted protein-protein interaction networks, by integrating four sets of disease-associated expression profiles. Three identified prognostic modules were closely associated with prognosis-associated functions and survival time, as determined by Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses. The robustness of these modules was verified with an independent profile from another platform. Genes from these modules may be useful as breast cancer prognostic markers. The prognostic modules could be used to determine the prognoses of patients with breast cancer and characterize patient recovery.

The effects of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 06CC2 (LP06CC2), which was isolated from a Mongolian dairy product, on lipid metabolism and intestinal tight junction–related proteins in Balb/c mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) were evaluated. The mice were fed the HFD for eight weeks, and the plasma and hepatic lipid parameters, as well as the intestinal tight junction–related factors, were evaluated. LP06CC2 slightly reduced the adipose tissue mass. Further, it dose-dependently decreased plasma total cholesterol (TC). The HFD tended to increase the plasma level of endotoxin and suppressed intestinal ZO-1 expression, whereas a low LP06CC2 dose increased ZO-1 expression and tended to reduce the plasma lipopolysaccharide level. Furthermore, a low LP06CC2 dose facilitated a moderate accumulation of Lactobacillales, a significant decrease in Clostridium cluster IV, and an increase in Clostridium clusterXVIII. The results obtained from analyzing the bile acids (BAs) in feces and cecum contents exhibited a decreasing trend for secondary and conjugated BAs in the low LP06CC2–dose group. Moreover, a high LP06CC2 dose caused excess accumulation of Lactobacillales and failed to increase intestinal ZO-1 and occludin expression, while the fecal butyrate level increased dose dependently in the LP06CC2-fed mice. Finally, an appropriate LP06CC2 dose protected the intestinal barrier function from the HFD and modulated BA metabolism.