Computer Models Reveal Path to More Effective Probiotic Supplements, UVA Study Finds
核心洞察
UVA researchers analyzed 352 over-the-counter probiotic products from major U.S. pharmacy chains and found only 36 unique bacterial species, with no consistency in formulations linked to health claims.
The team developed HaPaPro, a collection of over 1,000 computer models of bacterial metabolism, to rationally design microbiome-targeted therapies.
Using HaPaPro, researchers successfully identified microbes with potential to prevent bacterial vaginosis (搜索), demonstrating the platform's therapeutic promise.
A comprehensive analysis of over-the-counter probiotic supplements sold across the United States has revealed a striking disconnect between the microbial contents of these products and their marketed health claims, according to new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine. The same team has developed sophisticated computational tools that could pave the way for rationally designed, evidence-based probiotic therapies.
UVA researchers led by Jason Papin, PhD, analyzed more than 350 probiotic products sold at the three largest pharmacy chains in the United States — CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. Those 352 products were found to contain, collectively, only 36 unique species of bacteria. The most common species were forms of Lactobacillus, a type of bacteria commonly found in yogurt.
More than half the products contained only one probiotic species. The products with the most unique species topped out at 17. Some brands maintained a consistent number of bacterial strains across products, while others did not.
Based on their analysis, the scientists concluded that there was no real consistency in the combination of species used to support gut health, vaginal health or other health claims.
"It is truly fascinating to discover that these probiotic bacteria hold a unique, specialized niche among the trillions of microbes in and on the human body," said Glynis Kolling, PhD, a research faculty member in UVA's Department of Biomedical Engineering who works closely with Papin. "By combining our advanced methods, we have the potential to vastly expand the pool of beneficial bacteria and pave the way for targeted solutions to support human health."
The Regulatory Landscape and Unmet Need
Scientists have increasingly come to appreciate the role the microbiome — the collection of microorganisms living on and inside the human body, numbering at least as many as our own cells — plays in maintaining health. Beneficial bacteria can be obtained from diets, such as from yogurt and fermented foods, but there has been an explosion in probiotic products over the last two decades.
So far, the federal Food and Drug Administration has approved only two microbial products for therapeutic purposes, and both are used to treat recurrent C. difficile infections (搜索) in the colon. Supplements, however, are not regulated as strictly as drugs in the United States, and there is limited understanding of connections between bacteria and marketed use for many probiotic products, the UVA researchers found.
HaPaPro: A Computational Platform for Rational Probiotic Design
To improve the effectiveness of probiotic products, Papin and his team developed HaPaPro, a collection of more than 1,000 computer models of bacterial metabolism. They used these models to see if they could identify probiotics with the potential to improve women's vaginal health.
The vaginal microbiome is a natural ecosystem of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that help support health. Bacterial vaginosis (搜索) occurs when this natural ecosystem is disrupted, leading to pregnancy complications, pelvic inflammatory disease, higher risk of sexually transmitted disease and general discomfort. The researchers were able to use their models to identify microbes that have the potential to help prevent bacterial vaginosis.
The successful results, Papin says, demonstrate HaPaPro's potential for identifying ways to manipulate the microbiome with concrete benefits. Such insights, he hopes, will lead to better probiotic products that deliver on their promises.
"It is remarkable how much microbes play a role in human health and well-being," Papin said. "I love seeing how computational models of these complex biological systems are leading to new ideas for therapies and helping us understand such fundamental biological processes."
Publication and Funding
The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology. The research team consisted of Emma M. Glass, Kolling and Papin. The scientists have no financial interest in the probiotic industry, but Papin disclosed he has a stake in Cerillo, the manufacturer of instrumentation used in some of the analyses.
The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, grant 1842490, and the National Institutes of Health, grants T32 GM-145443-1, R01-AI154242 and R01-AT010253. UVA's Department of Biomedical Engineering is a joint program of the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.