On 1st December 2024, Wenxin Cao (D3), Sakai-Nishikawa Lab., Department of Chemical System Engineering, recieved
ESTIV Award at the 37th annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments.
About awarded research
Title: "Enhanced human beta-defensin 2 expression and secretion induced by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum OLL2712 achieved by an artificial mucus involved in vitro intestinal model"
Human beta-defensin 2 (hBD-2) is one of the most abundant antimicrobial peptides secreted by epithelial cells in the human body, and some reports state that the up-regulation of hBD-2 is considered a shared characteristic of probiotic bacteria modulating human health. However, most in vitro studies utilized heat-inactivated bacteria or performed co-culture for a limited time to study the host-microbe interaction. There is no in vitro study of the long-term host-microbe interaction with a representative environment with a mucosa barrier.
In this research, a stable in vitro model involving a biocompatible artificial mucus layer was achieved, which was also necessary to support Lactiplantibacillus plantarum OLL2712 proliferation. Then this model successfully recapitulated the regulation of hBD-2 expression and secretion by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum OLL2712, demonstrating its probiotic effect on intestinal epithelial cells under in vitro conditions, which was less evident in other previously reported co-culture models.
For the next step, we expect to incorporate this artificial mucus layer involved in vitro model together with a newly designed co-culture device which can provide distinct oxygen environments to better mimic the in vivo condition, and we plan to utilize it as a bottom-up approach to propose possible pathogenic mechanisms and identify potential therapeutics for gastrointestinal disorders.
Your impression & future plan
I really appreciate the constructive feedback and insightful suggestions provided by fellow researchers, which will serve as valuable guidance for my future work. And I would like to express my thanks to our collaborators at Meiji Co., Ltd, as well as to everyone in the Sakai-Nishikawa Lab for their consistent support and encouragement throughout this research work. As I continue my doctoral research, I aim to optimize the current in vitro model with a more representative oxygen environment and explore its diverse applications in studying host-microbe interactions within the field of pharmaceutics as well as food science.