Probiotic potential and biotherapeutic effects of newly isolated vaginal Lactobacillus acidophilus 36YL strain on cancer cells
Authors: Rozita Rosli
Yousef Nami
Dayang Radiah
Norhafizah Abdullah
Ahmad Yari Khosroushahi
Babak Haghshenas
Journal: Anaerobe (2014)
Discipline: MICROBIOLOGY
Keywords: Anti-microbe; Antibiotic susceptibility; Anticancer; Apoptosis; Cytotoxicity.
Affiliations: Institute of Biosciences, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia., Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: ., Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia., Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Lactobacillus acidophilus is categorized as a probiotic strain because of its beneficial effects in human health and prevention of disease transmission. This study is aimed to characterize the probiotic potential of L. acidophilus 36YL originally isolated from the vagina of healthy and fertile Iranian women. The L. acidophilus 36YL strain was identified using 16S rDNA gene sequencing and characterized by biochemical methodologies, such as antibiotics susceptibility, antimicrobial activity, and acid and bile resistance. The bioactivity of the secretion of this strain on four human cancer cell lines (AGS, HeLa, MCF-7, and HT-29) and one normal cell line (HUVEC) was evaluated by cytotoxicity assay and apoptosis analysis. This newly isolated strain was found to exhibit notable probiotic properties, such as admirable antibiotic susceptibility, good antimicrobial activity, and favorable resistance to acid and bile salt. The results of bioactivity assessment demonstrated acceptable anticancer effects on the four tested cancer cell lines and negligible side effects on the assayed normal cell line. Our findings revealed that the anticancer effect of L. acidophilus 36YL strain secretions depends on the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. L. acidophilus 36YL strain is considered as a nutraceutical alternative or a topical medication with a potential therapeutic index because of the absence of cytotoxicity to normal cells, but effective toxicity to cancer cell lines. 

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PubPeer comments:
 Figure 3. Panels a (without treatment, 24h) and b (without treatment, 48h) appear to share a similar group of dots. Shown with green boxes. ![file] , 
 Figure 2 of this paper shares similarities with Figure 3 of another paper by the same research group, submitted around the same time, but displaying somewhat different experiments. That other paper is: * Nami et al. - Microbiology and Immunology (2014) -  Assessment of probiotic potential and anticancer activity of newly isolated vaginal bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum 5BL - DOI: 10.1111 1348-0421.12175 - https: pubpeer.com publications 8CC4CB8EA52B14355E0C7FC6FF070D#1 Here is a side-by-side comparison of the 2 figures, with boxes of the same color highlighting areas that look similar to each other. Note that Figure 2 of this paper appears to show the same set of cells twice within the same photo. ![file] ,