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Markers to measure immunomodulation in human nutrition intervention studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2007

Ruud Albers
Affiliation:
Unilever Health Institute, PO Box 114, NL 3130 AC, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands
Jean-Michel Antoine
Affiliation:
Danone Vitapole – Nutrivaleur, Route Départementale 128, F-91767, Palaiseau, cedex, France
Raphaëlle Bourdet-Sicard
Affiliation:
Danone Vitapole – Nutrivaleur, Route Départementale 128, F-91767, Palaiseau, cedex, France
Philip C. Calder
Affiliation:
University of Southampton, Institute of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Bassett Crescent East, Southampton, SO16 7PX, UK
Michael Gleeson
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK
Bruno Lesourd
Affiliation:
Hôpital Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand, Service Soins de Suite, Route de Châteaugay BP 56, F-63118, Cebazat, France
Sonia Samartín*
Affiliation:
ILSI Europe, 83 Av. E. Mounier Box 6, B-1200, Brussels, Belgium
Ian R. Sanderson
Affiliation:
Research Centre in Gastroenterology, Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, Barts and the London, Queen Mary School of Medicine and Dentistry, Turner Street, London, E1 2AD, UK
Jan Van Loo
Affiliation:
Raffinerie Tirlemontoise, Orafti, Aandorenstraat 1, B-3300, Tienen, Belgium
F. Willem Vas Dias
Affiliation:
Seven Seas Ltd, Hedon Road, Marfleet, Hull, HU9 5NJ, UK
Bernhard Watzl
Affiliation:
Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food, Institute of Nutritional Physiology, Haid-und-Neu-Strasse, D-76131, Karlsruhe, Germany
*
*Corresponding author: Dr S. Samartin, fax +32 2 762 00 44, email publications@ilsieurope.be
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Abstract

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Normal functioning of the immune system is crucial to the health of man, and diet is one of the major exogenous factors modulating individual immunocompetence. Recently, nutrition research has focused on the role of foods or specific food components in enhancing immune system responsiveness to challenges and thereby improving health and reducing disease risks. Assessing diet-induced changes of immune function, however, requires a thorough methodological approach targeting a large spectrum of immune system parameters. Currently, no single marker is available to predict the outcome of a dietary intervention on the resistance to infection or to other immune system-related diseases. The present review summarises the immune function assays commonly used as markers in human intervention studies and evaluates their biological relevance (e.g. known correlation with clinically relevant endpoints), sensitivity (e.g. within- and between-subject variation), and practical feasibility. Based on these criteria markers were classified into three categories with high, medium or low suitability. Vaccine-specific serum antibody production, delayed-type hypersensitivity response, vaccine-specific or total secretory IgA in saliva and the response to attenuated pathogens, were classified as markers with high suitability. Markers with medium suitability include natural killer cell cytotoxicity, oxidative burst of phagocytes, lymphocyte proliferation and the cytokine pattern produced by activated immune cells. Since no single marker allows conclusions to be drawn about the modulation of the whole immune system, except for the clinical outcome of infection itself, combining markers with high and medium suitability is currently the best approach to measure immunomodulation in human nutrition intervention studies. It would be valuable to include several immune markers in addition to clinical outcome in future clinical trials in this area, as there is too little evidence that correlates markers with global health improvement.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2005