Advances in surgical technology, critical care and antimicrobial therapy have improved outcomes for patients undergoing major abdominal surgery. However, for some patients, the risk of complications remains considerably high. It is recognised that sepsis due to bacterial infection is a major aetiological factor leading to postoperative major organ dysfunction. Current therapies to combat rates of infection rely far too heavily on antibiotics, to which there is growing resistance, leading to the demand for novel or alternative strategies The aim of this series of studies was to demonstrate the influence of bacteria and their products on human immune responses in both health and surgical disease. Previous studies indicate a potential role for probiotic bacteria in the treatment of infective disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. In this thesis, it is demonstrated using meta-analytical methods, that probiotic and synbiotic bacteria reduce the risk of infective complications following major abdominal surgery. It is proposed that some of the beneficial effects of probiotics involve modulation of host immune responses. In this thesis, it is demonstrated that probiotic treatment in healthy volunteers confers changes in the expression of Foxp3, the transcription factor characteristic of T regulatory cells. In addition, expression of cell surface proteins on dendritic cells (DCs) following synbiotic treatment has indicated expansion of mature DC subsets with altered phenotype.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:665483 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Chowdhury, Abeed |
| Publisher | University of Nottingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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