Dairy propionibacteria as potential adjuvant for chemotherapy in digestive cancers

International audienceFood-grade dairy propionibacteria are nutraceutical producers. They release short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), folic acid and cobalamin, which play a role in intestinal physiology. SCFAs induce apoptosis via the mitochondrial death pathway. We investigated the potential of dairy propionibacteria-fermented products to synergize with drugs used in gastric and colorectal cancer. Fermented milk contained high and viable populations of propionibacteria. This product, as well as its cell-free supernatant, were tested in vitro on gastric HGT-1 and colic HT-29 cells with respect to apoptosis and synergy with known anti-cancer molecules, camptothecin and the human cytokine TRAIL (TNF Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand). Viability was monitored and apoptosis quantified by Hoescht staining, ROS production, mitochondrial membrane potential perturbation and caspases activity assay. A transcriptomic study on genome-wide microarray was performed in collaboration with the company Miltenyi. Fermented milk induced cell death in both gastric and colon cancer cells. Characterization of cells revealed cell cycle arrest, drop in intracellular ATP, depolarization of mitochondria, translocation of key apoptosis proteins, processing of caspases and fragmentation of the nucleus. Interestingly, the fermented milk was shown to potentiate the cytotoxic effect of molecules used in cancer chemotherapy, camptothecin and TRAIL. The observed synergistic pro-apoptotic effect between TRAIL and propionibacterial SCFAs depended on death receptors and on caspases, was more lethal on cancer cells than on normal human intestinal epithelial cells (HIEC), and was inhibited by Bcl-2 expression. Transcriptomics revealed that propionibacterial metabolites boosted TRAIL-induced modulation of gene expression in human colon cancer cells. These results open new perspectives in the field of colon cancer cells prevention and/or treatment. The synergy with pro-apoptotic chemotherapy molecules suggests that such a fermented product, or the propionibacterium alone, may be proposed as a food supplement to enhance the effects of anticancer treatments