Nutraceuticals: a new therapeutic approach against

Abstract

Background and Aim: H. pylori induces severe gastric chronic inflammation and is the cause of gastritis, peptic ulcer and a major risk factor for gastric cancer. The aim of the study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of two nutraceuticals in Hp-infected mucosa. Materials and Methods: Eighteen C57BL/6 mice were inoculated with Hp SS1 by gavage three times with 3 · 109 viable cells. Mice were then treated with either PBS, curcumin (10 mg/mouse) or Symbiotic 2000 (50 mg/mouse), three times per week. Half of the infected and three non-infected mice were euthanized at week 6, the remaining at week 18. Gastric samples were removed for immunohistochemistry and PCR array (inflammatory response and immunity pathway) analysis (Sabiosciences, Qiagen). Results: All the 18 mice were Hp positive by immunohistochemistry. The production of the chemokines CCL2, CCL5, CCL20, CCL25, CXCL1 and CXCL11 was significantly up-regulated at both week 6 (range of fold-change 4.3–718) and week 18 (range of fold-change 16–1192). Similarly, the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1b, IL6, IL9, IL10, IL23, TNFa and INFc was significantly augmented (range of fold-change 1338–8251). The treatment with either curcumin or symbiotic drastically decreased the expression of all these mediators, restoring their levels to those similar to the non-infected mice. Conclusions: The present study confirmed that Hp infection induces a strong inflammatory response. Curcumin and Symbiotic treatments exerted a significant anti-inflammatory effect in Hp-infected mucosa. The supplementation of diet with these nutraceuticals may be a novel clinical approach against gastric inflammation induced by Hp infection.