Cheng FS, Pan D, Chang B, Jiang M, Sang LX. Probiotic mixture VSL#3: An overview of basic and clinical studies in chronic diseases. World J Clin Cases 2020; 8(8): 1361-1384 [PMID: 32368530 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i8.1361]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Li-Xuan Sang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Geriatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, No. 155, Nanjing North Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China. sanglixuan2008@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Apr 26, 2020; 8(8): 1361-1384 Published online Apr 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i8.1361
Probiotic mixture VSL#3: An overview of basic and clinical studies in chronic diseases
Fang-Shu Cheng, Dan Pan, Bing Chang, Min Jiang, Li-Xuan Sang
Fang-Shu Cheng, Department of Dermatology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Fang-Shu Cheng, Class 85 of 101k, China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Dan Pan, Li-Xuan Sang, Department of Geriatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Bing Chang, Min Jiang, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Cheng FS wrote the manuscript, drew the figures, and prepared the tables; Jiang M and Sang LX proposed the conception of the paper and developed the ideas; Pan D and Chang B contributed to literature review and analysis, critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version; all authors revised and endorsed the final draft.
Supported bythe Innovative Talent Support Program of the Institution of Higher Learning in Liaoning Province, No. 2018-478; and the Innovative Talents of Science and Technology Support Program of Young and Middle People of Shenyang, No. RC170446.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors disclose no potential competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li-Xuan Sang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Geriatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital, China Medical University, No. 155, Nanjing North Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China. sanglixuan2008@163.com
Received: December 30, 2019 Peer-review started: December 30, 2019 First decision: February 19, 2020 Revised: March 27, 2020 Accepted: April 8, 2020 Article in press: April 8, 2020 Published online: April 26, 2020 Processing time: 116 Days and 3.1 Hours
Abstract
Probiotics are known as “live microorganisms” and have been proven to have a health effect on hosts at the proper dose. Recently, a kind of probiotic mixture including eight live bacterial strains, VSL#3, has attracted considerable attention for its combined effect. VSL#3 is the only probiotic considered as a kind of medical food; it mainly participates in the regulation of the intestinal barrier function, including improving tight junction protein function, balancing intestinal microbial composition, regulating immune-related cytokine expression and so on. The objective of this review is to discuss the treatment action and mechanism for the administration of VSL#3 in chronic diseases of animals and humans (including children). We found that VSL#3 has a therapeutic or preventive effect in various systemic diseases per a large number of studies, including digestive systemic diseases (gastrointestinal diseases and hepatic diseases), obesity and diabetes, allergic diseases, nervous systemic diseases, atherosclerosis, bone diseases, and female reproductive systemic diseases.
Core tip: The imbalance of intestinal microbiota is one of the important factors in multiple diseases. Probiotics have a benefit on human health as live microorganisms that can positively regulate the intestinal microbial composition. One probiotic mixture consisting of eight live bacterial strains, VSL#3, plays an essential function in preventing and treating digestive systemic and other systemic diseases in animals and humans. There is increasing evidence that VSL#3 works by modulating intestinal barrier function. It is able to improve tight junction protein function and the composition of intestinal microbiota and regulate immune-related cytokine expression. This review seeks to provide an overview of the role of VSL#3 in various kinds of diseases and its potential for clinical use in the future.
