Analysis of Antitumor Properties of Effector Cells Stimulated with a Cell Wall Preparation (WPG) of Bifidobacterium infantis

• Published in: Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 148 - 153
• Main Authors: TATSUKI, Taro, ONISHI, Masatoshi, HASHIMOTO, Yoshiyuki, TOIDA, Tomohiro, OHTA, Jun, SHIMOKAWA, Yukiko, SEKINE, Kazunori, KAWASHIMA, Takuji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 01.01.1995; Maruzen; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic agents; antitumor activity; Base Sequence; Bifidobacterium - chemistry; Bifidobacterium - ultrastructure; Bifidobacterium infantis; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Survival - drug effects; Cell Wall - chemistry; Culture Media; Cytokines - biosynthesis; General aspects; Male; Medical sciences; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred C3H; Molecular Sequence Data; Nitrites - metabolism; Peptidoglycan - chemistry; Peptidoglycan - isolation & purification; Peptidoglycan - pharmacology; Peptones - pharmacology; Peritoneal Cavity - cytology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Polymerase Chain Reaction; reactive nitrogen intermediate (RNI); RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; Sarcoma, Experimental - drug therapy; Stimulation, Chemical; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - drug effects; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - ultrastructure; TNF-α; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - pharmacology; Winn assay; Antineoplastic agent; Bifidobacterium; Biological response modifier; Actinomycetaceae; Cytokine; Granulocyte; In vitro; Cell wall; Actinomycetales; Immunomodulator; In vivo; Bacteria; Actinomycetes; Tumor cell; Macrophage
• ISSN: 0918-6158; 1347-5215
• DOI: 10.1248/bpb.18.148

Intestinal Bifidobacterium species are thought to be beneficial in animal and human intestines. We studied the mechanisms of Bifidobacteria in antitumor activity using a cell wall preparation (WPG) of B. infantis (Cancer Res., 45, 1300, (1985)). WPG enhanced the in vitro antitumor activities of mouse peritoneal exudate cells elicited with proteose-peptone (P-PEC) and thioglycollate broth (TG-PEC), determined by cytostatic ([3H] thymidine uptake inhibition) and cytolytic ([3H] uridine release) assays. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and reactive nitrogen intermediates (RNI) play a role in such augmented cytotoxicity, because anti-TNF-α antibody almost completely blocked the increased cytolytic activity of P-PEC in the presence of WPG. Moreover, WPG induced RNI in the supernatant of TG-PEC in a dose-dependent manner. The mRNA expression of several cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-α and TNF-α) was induced in BALB/c mouse peritoneal cells 3 h after an intraperitoneal injection of WPG (3 h WPG-PEC). However, this expression disappeared from 24 h WPG-PEC, except for that of IFN-α. IFN-γ was not induced. Kinetic studies of the tumor neutralizing activities of the WPG-PECs by means of the in vivo Winn assay revealed that the activity emerged at 1.5 h, became maximal at 3 h and disappeared at 24 h. These results indicated that Bifidobacterial WPG is a Biological Response Modifier (BRM) with characteristics similar to those of other bacterial BRMs.