Probiotic E. coli (Symbioflor®2) treatment mediates antimicrobial β-defensin (hBD-2) synthesis and fecal excretion in humans

Aims: Antimicrobial defensins play an important role in host defense and seem to be a critical factor in the pathogenesis of Crohns disease. Besides direct defense at mucosal surfaces, it has been shown that defensins also regulate the composition of luminal bacteria. Probiotic bacteria such as E. coli Nissle 1917 as well as Lactobacilli stimulate the intestinal innate defense by specifically inducing antimicrobial defensin (hBD-2) in colonic epithelial cells. However, the relevance of this in vitro effect has not yet been shown in vivo. In this study we aimed to assess hBD-2 secretion into the feces after probi…