Search Results (473)

Prostate cancer is among the most frequently diagnosed cancers in men globally, with metastatic disease contributing substantially to morbidity and mortality. While conventional therapies remain the standard of care, dietary and lifestyle behaviors are increasingly explored as potentially modifiable factors influencing clinical outcomes, although their role in advanced disease is not well established. We report a 60-year-old, physically active male, lifelong non-smoker without significant comorbidities, diagnosed with de novo metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma (Gleason score 9) and an initial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of 808.3 µg/L. The patient received standard androgen deprivation therapy. By personal choice, he adopted a whole-food, low-fat (WFLF) vegan diet, structured physical activity, and periodic fasting-mimicking diet cycles. These interventions complemented, but did not replace or delay, conventional treatment. During the 14-month follow-up period, serial PSA measurements, laboratory tests, blood pressure monitoring, dietary assessment, body composition analysis, imaging, and germline genetic testing were performed. PSA declined from 808.3 µg/L to 1.7 µg/L (>99.8%), and remained suppressed throughout follow-up. Concurrent improvements were observed in body composition and metabolic biomarkers. The WFLF vegan diet increased fiber and micronutrient intake while reducing saturated fat and cholesterol. This case demonstrates the successful application and execution of an integrative oncology approach and highlights metastatic prostate cancer managed with standard therapy alongside patient-initiated lifestyle modifications. The findings should be interpreted as descriptive, exploratory, and hypothesis-generating. Given the single-patient design, the independent impact of lifestyle interventions cannot be determined. Controlled studies are warranted to clarify their potential role in advanced prostate cancer management. Full article

Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) arise from interactions among genetic susceptibility, epithelial barrier function, microbiota, diet, and other environmental exposures. Modern diets influence mucosal immunity not only through fibre intake, food processing, and microbiota composition, but also through a less explored exposure layer: plant-derived molecules with potential immune activity. Crop breeding, intensive agriculture, global trade, gluten-free substitutes, and plant-based food technologies have changed the spectrum, dose, concentration, and matrix in which plant defence proteins, antinutritional factors, endogenous toxicants, and novel plant antigens reach the intestinal surface. In this structured, hypothesis-generating narrative review, we propose dietary adjuvanticity as a mechanistic framework for considering how selected food-derived molecules may amplify mucosal immune responsiveness, modify antigen presentation, disturb barrier function, or lower tolerance thresholds without necessarily acting as classical autoantigens. The framework differs from general food-derived immunomodulation, nutritional exposomics, and diet-microbiota-host interaction models by focusing specifically on adjuvant-like immune amplification at the intestinal mucosa. The ASIA concept is used only in Shoenfeld’s functional sense, as an analogy for exogenous immune amplification through innate activation, danger signalling, bystander activation, epitope spreading, and loss of tolerance in susceptible hosts; it is not applied as a dietary diagnosis. Wheat amylase-trypsin inhibitors, gluten epitopes, lectins, potato glycoalkaloids, saponins, quinoa prolamins, emerging legume proteins, L-canavanine, and tolerance-promoting plant substrates are discussed with explicit separation of established clinical evidence, strong mechanistic evidence, preclinical/ex vivo evidence, and speculative disease-modifier hypotheses. Overall, plant-derived exposures are best interpreted as potential modifiers within the IMID exposome, not as primary causes of autoimmunity. Testing this model will require defined exposures, food-matrix and processing studies, biomarkers of barrier and immune activation, patient stratification, and controlled human studies. Full article

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes a highly fatal disease that severely impacts small ruminant production and global food security. This study aimed to develop a rapid, user-friendly colloidal gold immunochromatographic test strip for detecting PPRV-specific antibodies using a double-antigen sandwich format. Bioinformatic analysis using DNASTAR Protean was performed to predict candidate antigenic regions in the PPRV H and N proteins. Three predicted candidate regions from each protein were selected and incorporated into the design of the recombinant fusion antigen PPRV-H₃N₃EP. The recombinant antigen was expressed in E. coli, purified, and refolded to obtain a final concentration of 8.52 mg/mL. The strip was assembled with colloidal gold-labeled fusion protein as the detection probe and unlabeled protein coated on the test line, plus an independent mouse IgG/goat anti-mouse IgG control system. Performance evaluation showed that the results were readable within 10–15 min. The strip showed satisfactory analytical sensitivity and cross-reactivity performance, consistent qualitative results in within-batch repeatability testing, and preliminary short-term storage stability. In a comparative evaluation using sheep serum samples and a commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit, the overall agreement reached 97.9%. Collectively, the constructed PPRV-H₃N₃EP antigen enabled a simple, rapid, and reliable strip assay suitable for field detection of PPRV antibodies and post-vaccination monitoring, while also providing a methodological reference for developing antibody tests for other pathogens. Full article

Shigella is a foodborne bacterial pathogen with a low infectious dose and significant public health impact. Culture-based and molecular techniques provide reliable identification but are time-consuming. Nanoparticle-based biosensors offer sensitive, selective, and compact alternatives. Recent advances in nanoparticle-based biosensors for Shigella spp. (S. flexneri, S. sonnei, S. dysenteriae, and S. boydii) detection have been reviewed in terms of signal amplification, biorecognition, biological targets, sensor types, and performance in real food matrices. Detection strategies rely on gene-level and whole-cell recognition. Targeting virulence genes, invasion plasmid antigen H (ipaH), provides stable genus-level identification, whereas whole-cell recognition facilitates rapid detection without extensive sample preparation. Optical biosensors, including fluorescence-based methods, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), achieve low detection limits with strong tolerance to complex food matrices. Electrochemical biosensors offer operational simplicity, portability, and suitability for food screening. Lateral flow and hybrid systems provide rapid detection through simplified assay formats and visual readout, with performance influenced by the balance between speed and sensitivity. Validation in real food matrices shows acceptable recoveries, minimal cross-reactivity, and agreement with reference methods. This overview provides a design-oriented framework for nanoparticle-based biosensor selection in food safety by integrating nanomaterial function, biosensor design, and performance characteristics. Full article

Traditional injectable vaccine adjuvants are limited by local granulomatous reactions, chronic inflammation, and reduced compliance, creating an urgent need for safe, host-directed strategies to enhance vaccine immunogenicity. Proanthocyanidins (PACs)—natural polyphenols abundant in grapes, cocoa, and tea—are food-derived bioactive compounds with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory activities, positioning them as attractive candidates for oral immunostimulants. Using classical swine fever virus (CSFV), a Pestivirus within the Flaviviridae that shares conserved genomic and immunological features with human pathogens such as hepatitis C and dengue virus, we systematically evaluated oral PACs (15, 30, and 60 mg/kg/d) combined with attenuated live or subunit CSFV vaccines in mice. PACs were well tolerated across the full dose range, with no impact on body weight or major organs, while selectively increasing the splenic index—suggesting spleen-targeted immune activation without systemic inflammation. Compared with vaccine alone, the moderate dose (30 mg/kg/d) produced the strongest immunostimulation, particularly with the subunit vaccine: peak antigen-specific IgG titer reached 1:409,600, a 4-fold increase versus 1:102,400 for subunit alone and exceeding the 3.4-fold gain observed with the attenuated vaccine. IgG2a and IgG2b rose by 199.4% and 269.1%, respectively, alongside coordinated elevations of Th1 (IL-2 +160.6%, IFN-γ +91.9%) and Th2 (IL-4, IL-10) cytokines, enhanced B- and T-lymphocyte proliferation, and expansion of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ subsets, establishing a balanced and durable Th1/Th2 response. These findings provide preclinical evidence that food-derived PACs can serve as safe oral immunostimulants for low-immunogenicity subunit vaccines, supporting their further development in human and veterinary vaccinology. Full article

Mast cells (MCs) are immune cells that produce numerous immunological mediators involved in inflammatory and allergic responses. Increased numbers of MCs are observed in chronic inflammatory reactions in organs such as the colon. There, MCs seem to participate in deleterious immune responses and tissue damage, but the detailed mechanisms of their activation are not known, mostly because procedures to obtain MC primary cultures from the colonic mucosa are expensive and time-consuming and present low yield. Here we describe a protocol to obtain MCs from the colonic mucosa (cmMCs) of C57BL/6 mice with high yield, viability and purity. Mucosal colon cells were dispersed by enzymatic digestion, and cmMCs were isolated by Percoll continuous-gradient centrifugation. This method allowed for the purification of 1,446,667 ± 112,442 cell/g of mucosal tissue, with 87.22% viability and 95.16% purity. The mucosal-like phenotype was predominant in isolated cmMCs, characterized by weak toluidine blue staining but strong expression of MC protease-1 (Mcpt1). Activation assays showed that freshly isolated cmMCs increased intracellular calcium and showed degranulation in response to ATP or IgE-antigen-dependent FcεRI cross-linking. This highly reproducible technique is cost-effective and requires no specialized equipment. This protocol could be applied in research related to inflammatory bowel disease, colon cancer or food allergies. Full article

Parvovirus infection causes severe diseases in both feline and canine species. It primarily affects adult cats and dogs but poses a higher risk to kittens and puppies. This virus is highly contagious and is easily transmitted through contaminated food, shared shelter environments, as well as the hands and clothing of people. The recovered species may continue to shed parvovirus in their feces for an extended period, leading to severe environmental contamination. There is no universal vaccine available that protects dogs and cats against parvovirus infections. The main goal of this study is to design a pan-parvovirus multiepitope-based vaccine that could be administered to dogs and cats. We utilized AI-machine learning-incorporated server tools such as IEDB and NetMHCpan to predict B-cell and T-cell epitopes. VaxiJen and ToxinPred were used to analyze immune characteristic features and docking with feline alleles using the HADDOCK server. Following this, the immune response and stability of the vaccine construct were confirmed with disulfide engineering, normal mode analysis, and molecular docking performed with toll-like receptors of both feline and canine (TLR4 and TLR5), and molecular dynamics simulation was performed for 10 ns. The triggered immune response was determined with immuno-simulation (ImmSim), and their activity in a biological environment was reinforced with in silico cloning. The B-cell epitopes (NS1-9, NS2-4, VP1-12 and VP2-9) predicted with the IEDB database were subjected to antigenicity prediction. MHC class I and IFN prediction and MHC class II and IL-4 prediction were performed with IEDB and NetMHCpan. The T-cell epitopes showed high binding affinities with the feline alleles. The final vaccine was designed by combining the top-ranked B-cell epitopes and T-cell epitopes, filtered for high antigenicity, non-allergic, non-toxic, and good solubility, and with the better binding affinity score of the structural and non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2, VP1, and VP2) of feline and canine parvoviruses through linkers and adjuvants. The disulfide bond prediction and normal mode analysis showed that our vaccine construct is stable and flexible. The molecular docking analysis was performed between the designed vaccine epitopes and the TLRs (TLR4–feline and TLR5–canine) with Biovia Discovery Studio using Zdock; it showed better binding interactions with a value of 22.26 (Zdock score), −47.409 (Zrank score) for feline and 16.54 (Zdock score), −134.295 (Zrank score) for canine. A pan-multi-epitope-based vaccine based on the two structural and non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2, VP1, and VP2) was designed and constructed to provide dual protection against parvovirus in both feline and canine species. The molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation analysis showed higher binding affinities and stable conformations with canine (TLR5) and feline (TLR4) toll-like receptors. Although computational analysis supports the prediction of top-ranked epitopes and their immunogenic properties with greater precision, further experimental validation is required before they can be used against these viruses. Full article

Dysgeusia is a clinically consequential, but still under-standardized, toxicity of cancer treatment. In the immunotherapy era, taste disturbances are increasingly relevant for patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies and T-cell-redirecting bispecific antibodies, with G protein-coupled receptor family C group 5 member D (GPRC5D)-directed treatment in multiple myeloma representing a particularly instructive high-burden model. We performed a structured critical narrative review with evidence mapping. PubMed/MEDLINE was searched from database inception to June 2026, complemented by citation tracking in Google Scholar, ClinicalTrials.gov searches and guideline documents relevant to oncology nutrition, oral supportive care and cancer-related taste dysfunction. Search concepts covered cancer-related dysgeusia, immunotherapy-associated oral toxicity, GPRC5D/talquetamab-associated dysgeusia, oncology nutrition, oral–gut microbiome biology, natural taste modulators and miraculin-based interventions. Dysgeusia can reduce appetite, food enjoyment, dietary diversity and protein energy intake, thereby contributing to weight loss, malnutrition risk, distress, social withdrawal and, in severe cases, treatment modification or discontinuation. Available evidence is heterogeneous: general cancer-treatment-associated dysgeusia is supported by broader observational and interventional literature; immunotherapy-associated dysgeusia is less systematically characterized; and GPRC5D/talquetamab-associated dysgeusia represents the most clinically visible and target-specific immunotherapy-associated phenotype. Emerging pilot data suggest that dried miracle berry or miraculin-containing products may improve selected taste perception and nutritional parameters in cancer-related dysgeusia, but direct evidence in immunotherapy-associated dysgeusia is not yet established. We, therefore, propose a claim-disciplined precision supportive-care framework integrating systematic taste phenotyping, early nutritional risk assessment, oral health evaluation, microbiome-aware but hypothesis-generating endpoints, individualized flavor and texture adaptation, cautious use of natural taste modulators in selected patients and iterative monitoring of patient-centered outcomes. Future trials should test whether dysgeusia-focused nutritional and taste-modulating supportive care interventions can improve intake, quality of life and treatment persistence without compromising immunotherapy safety or efficacy. Full article

Campylobacteriosis is one of the leading foodborne bacterial illnesses worldwide, with poultry meat representing its principal source of human infection. Broiler chickens are a key reservoir for Campylobacter jejuni, where the bacterium persists in the gastrointestinal tract without disease. Understanding this host–pathogen interaction is essential to clarify mechanisms of persistence and food safety implications. This study investigated persistent C. jejuni colonisation and systemic immune responses in experimentally infected broiler chickens. Following oral challenge with the virulent ST-403 strain, animals were monitored under controlled conditions. Caecal bacterial loads were determined at 13, 27, 35 and 41 days post-infection, alongside serum total and antigen-specific IgY levels and circulating cytokines and chemokines using ELISA and multiplex assays. C. jejuni rapidly colonised the caecum and persisted throughout the study, although bacterial loads gradually declined over time but remained high. Total IgY increased early after infection and then stabilized. Antigen-specific antibodies were higher in infected chickens than in controls. Cytokine profiling revealed distinct temporal patterns, with increased IL-6 and MIP-1β, decreased IL-2 and MIP-3α, and persistently low IFN-γ levels. C. jejuni established stable intestinal colonisation with a detectable but non-clearing systemic immune response. These findings further support the role of broiler chickens as a persistent reservoir for human exposure to C. jejuni. Full article

Dietary factors, including the consumption of isoflavones-rich foods of plant origin, may contribute to the reduced incidence of prostate cancer. Isoflavones, natural phytoestrogens often found in legumes, can modulate estrogen and androgen receptor signaling. This study aimed to evaluate the biological potential of isoflavone-rich extracts obtained from twelve species from the Fabaceae family, targeting prostate cancer cell viability, proliferation, inflammatory markers, prostate-specific antigen secretion, and 5α-reductase activity. The tested extracts showed moderate cytotoxic activity against prostate cancer cell lines, apart from highly susceptible PC3 cells, and only weak toxicity to normal prostate epithelial cells. Significant antiproliferative activity was observed, especially for Cytisus scoparius, Ononis arvensis, and Genista tinctoria, while most extracts reduced prostate-specific antigen (PSA) secretion in normal prostate cells. Furthermore, the extracts showed anti-inflammatory properties by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) and improving cytokine balance indices. Multivariate analyses revealed correlations between total isoflavone content and antiproliferative activity. Full article

Food allergy is an increasingly prevalent global health condition characterized by immune-mediated reactions to dietary antigens and a substantial clinical burden. Growing understanding of IgE-mediated mechanisms has highlighted the central role of type 2 inflammation, effector-cell activation, and impaired immune regulation. These advances have prompted the development of disease-modifying therapies beyond allergen avoidance. This narrative review summarizes recent advances in the therapeutic management of IgE-mediated food allergy. A structured PubMed search was performed to identify clinical trials, randomized studies, and meta-analyses published within the last five years. Both allergen-specific and non-allergen-specific interventions were evaluated. Current evidence supports oral immunotherapy as the most effective strategy for increasing reaction thresholds and inducing desensitization in peanut, milk, and egg allergies. However, safety concerns remain, and sustained unresponsiveness after treatment discontinuation is achieved inconsistently. Sublingual and epicutaneous immunotherapy show improved safety but lower efficacy. Modified allergen approaches, including baked milk and processed peanut products, may improve tolerability and facilitate immune modulation in selected patients. Biologic therapies, particularly anti-IgE agents, demonstrate efficacy both alone and when combined with immunotherapy. Emerging approaches include peptide vaccines, DNA immunization, microbiome-targeted interventions, and early dietary modulation. These strategies may improve durable immune tolerance through personalized, mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. Future progress will depend on optimizing safety, identifying predictive biomarkers, and integrating multimodal approaches to achieve durable immune tolerance. Full article

The clinical relevance of food-specific IgG antibodies in pediatric gastrointestinal disorders remains controversial. Although current international guidelines discourage their use as standalone diagnostic tools, their significance within a broader immune–gut inflammatory framework has not been sufficiently explored. This study aimed to investigate associations between food-specific IgG reactivity, inflammatory and permeability biomarkers, microbiological findings, and abdominal ultrasound abnormalities in children with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms. Methods: (1) Children presenting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms associated with food-specific IgG polysensitization, elevated inflammatory and permeability biomarkers, and abdominal ultrasound abnormalities (number (n) = 196); (2) a symptomatic gastrointestinal group without the complete multimodal profile (n = 146); and (3) a control group with normal abdominal ultrasound findings and biomarkers within reference ranges (n = 210). All participants underwent food-specific IgG testing using a 216-antigen ELISA panel, abdominal ultrasound examination, and assessment of intestinal inflammatory and permeability biomarkers. Food-specific IgG antibodies were not interpreted as diagnostic markers of food allergy or food intolerance. Comparative analyses, correlation analyses, multivariable logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed. Results: Food-specific IgG polysensitization was significantly more frequent among children presenting the multimodal inflammatory profile compared with symptomatic and control groups (all p < 0.001). Reactivity predominantly involved gluten-containing cereals, dairy proteins, and mixed gluten–dairy patterns. Elevated fecal calprotectin, zonulin, and fecal histamine concentrations were more frequently observed in this subgroup, together with a higher prevalence of ultrasound abnormalities, including bowel wall thickening and mesenteric lymphadenopathy. Correlation analyses demonstrated significant associations between cumulative IgG burden and bowel wall thickness (r = 0.48, p < 0.001), while fecal calprotectin showed the strongest association with ultrasound abnormalities (r = 0.62, p < 0.0001). Multivariable logistic regression identified elevated calprotectin, increased zonulin, IgG polysensitization, and mixed gluten–dairy reactivity as independent predictors of pathological ultrasound findings. The integrated multimodal model demonstrated higher classification performance than isolated biomarkers. Conclusions: Children presenting chronic gastrointestinal symptoms, food-specific IgG polysensitization, inflammatory biomarker abnormalities, and ultrasound changes represented a multimodal clinical subgroup within the study population. These findings support evaluating food-specific IgG reactivity within a broader immune–gut assessment framework rather than as a standalone diagnostic biomarker. The observed associations should be considered exploratory and hypothesis-generating, requiring prospective validation and mechanistic investigation. Full article

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is a lethal disease of poultry that has recently spilled over into mammals, including dairy cattle and humans, heightening concerns for livestock health, food security, and pandemic emergence. While vaccines that induce neutralizing antibodies against hemagglutinin and neuraminidase provide strain-specific protection, durable cross-subtype immunity requires T-cell responses targeting conserved internal antigens such as nucleoprotein (NP). To leverage these conserved targets, we utilized a previously engineered mosaic nucleoprotein (MNP) incorporating T-cell epitopes from thousands of influenza A virus (IAV) strains, conferring broad protection against epidemic (H3N2) and pandemic (H1N1) IAV in mice. Here, we tested whether precision adjuvancy could differentially imprint adaptive immunity to MNP in cattle. Combination formulations paired the carbomer-based nano-emulsion Adjuplex (ADJ) with either a STING agonist (cyclic dinucleotides; CdN) or a TLR4 agonist (glucopyranosyl lipid A; GLA) to program distinct inflammatory milieus. Both formulations elicited circulating IFN-γ–producing T cell responses and NP-specific antibodies in serum and milk. However, STING activation via CdN generated more potent and consistent cellular and humoral immunity than TLR4 engagement. These data demonstrate that selective activation of innate sensing pathways functionally imprints adaptive immune magnitude and quality in a large animal host. By advancing a broadly protective, T-cell-focused vaccine strategy in cattle, this work supports a One Health framework to mitigate H5N1 transmission risk at the human–animal interface. Full article

Background/Objectives: African Swine Fever (ASF) represents one of the most serious threats to animal health and global food security. The causative agent of ASF is the African swine fever virus (ASFV), a DNA virus belonging to the Asfarviridae family. Here, we describe ex vivo results for an original anti-ASFV vaccine approach based on the cellular immune response induced by extracellular vesicles (EVs) engineered to express four ASFV proteins. EV engineering was achieved by expressing a DNA vector encoding a biologically inactive HIV-1 Nef protein (Nef^mut), which exhibits unusually high efficiency of incorporation into EVs, even when fused to foreign proteins. Previous studies have demonstrated that intramuscular injection of Nef^mut-based vectors leads to the engineering of Evs, spontaneously released by muscle cells, and induction of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell immunity. Methods: We designed DNA vectors expressing the fusion products between Nef^mut and each of the four ASFV structural proteins p30, p54, pp62, and p72. Engineered EVs were molecularly characterized by Western blot and nanotrack analysis, and their potential immunogenicity was assessed by priming and cross-presentation assays. Results: We assessed that the four fusion proteins were successfully expressed in transfected mammalian cells, with the release of valuable amounts of engineered EVs. When immature swine dendritic cells were challenged with the engineered EVs and then co-cultivated with autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes in priming assays, lymphocyte subpopulations specifically reacting against each ASFV antigen were elicited, as detected by an IFN-γ ELISpot assay. In addition, we provide evidence that the Nef^mut-based fusion products incorporated into the engineered EVs can be cross-presented by professional antigen-presenting cells, leading to cross-priming of autologous lymphocytes. Conclusions: These results represent the best premise to go forward with experiments examining immunogenicity and antiviral efficiency in pigs. Full article

Atypical Salmonella enterica strains that evade conventional detection pose significant challenges to food safety surveillance. A hydrogen sulfide (H₂S)-negative and serologically untypable S. enterica strain (SF1060) was detected by qPCR from cooked farmed mussels in Galicia, Spain, and characterized using phenotypic and genomic approaches. Despite typical biochemical profiles, SF1060 failed to produce black colonies on Xylose Lysine Deoxycholate (XLD) agar and lacked detectable somatic antigens by conventional serotyping. Hybrid genome assembly using nanopore and illumina sequencing yielded a closed chromosome and five plasmids. In silico analyses identified the strain as S. Senftenberg ST14. Comparative genomics revealed a chromosomal inversion at the rfb operon (encoding enzymes needed to synthesize deoxysugars and O antigens) mediated by IS5-family transposase ISEc68, which truncated the rfbD gene and separated the remaining rfb genes at rfbD, disrupting O-antigen biosynthesis, explaining the inconclusive phenotypic serotyping results. The phs operon responsible for H₂S production lacked premature stop codons, suggesting the H₂S-negative phenotype may result from an alternative mechanism. This study demonstrates how whole-genome sequencing resolves identification of atypical strains that fail culture-based detection and emphasizes the critical need for molecular surveillance methods in seafood safety programs, particularly in regions where atypical S. enterica variants may be endemic. Full article