Foods 2018, 7(4), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods7040048
Lactic Acid Bacteria from Kefir Increase Cytotoxicity of Natural Killer Cells to Tumor Cells
1
Center for Research and Development Bioresources, Organization for Research Promotion, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8570, Japan
2
Department of Applied Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan
3
Institute of Food Sciences, Nakagaki Consulting Engineer and Co., Ltd., Nishi-ku, Sakai 593-8328, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 26 February 2018 / Revised: 23 March 2018 / Accepted: 25 March 2018 / Published: 27 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional and Bioactive Properties of Food)
Abstract
The Japanese fermented beverage, homemade kefir, contains six lactic acid bacteria: Lactococcus. lactis subsp. Lactis, Lactococcus. lactis subsp. Cremoris, Lactococcus. Lactis subsp. Lactis biovar diacetylactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc meseuteroides subsp. Cremoris and Lactobacillus casei. In this study, we found that a mixture of the six lactic acid bacteria from kefir increased the cytotoxicity of human natural killer KHYG-1 cells to human chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cells and colorectal tumor HCT116 cells. Furthermore, levels of mRNA expression and secretion of IFN-γ (interferon gamma) increased in KHYG-1 cells that had been treated with the six lactic acid bacteria mixture from kefir. The results suggest that the six lactic acid bacteria mixture from kefir has strong effects on natural immunity and tumor cell cytotoxicity. View Full-TextKeywords:
kefir; lactic acid bacteria; natural killer cell; cytotoxicity
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Yamane, T.; Sakamoto, T.; Nakagaki, T.; Nakano, Y. Lactic Acid Bacteria from Kefir Increase Cytotoxicity of Natural Killer Cells to Tumor Cells. Foods 2018, 7, 48.
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