Anti-inflammatory effects of Saccharomyces boulardii mediated by myeloid dendritic cells from patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

Background: Saccharomyces boulardii (Sb) is probiotic yeast that has demonstrated efficacy in pilot studies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Microbial antigen handling by dendritic cells (DC) is believed to be of critical importance for immunity and tolerance in IBD. Aim: To characterize the effects of Sb on DC from IBD patients. Methods: Highly purified (>95%), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) primed CD1c+CD11c+CD123- myeloid DC (mDC) from patients with ulcerative colitis (UC n=26), Crohn's disease (CD n=36) or infectious controls were cultured in the presence or absence of fungal supernatant from Sb…