Probiotic
Probiotic Bifidobacterium strain AH1205 or mutants or variants thereof are immunomodulatory following oral consumption and are useful in the prophylaxis and/or treatment of inflammatory activity such as undesirable gastrointestinal inflammatory activity for example inflammatory bowel disease.
1. An isolated strain of Bifidobacterium deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41387.
2. The Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 in the form of viable cells.
3. The Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 in the form of non-viable cells.
4. A formulation comprising an isolated strain of Bifidobacterium deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41387.
5. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a probiotic material.
6. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a prebiotic material.
7. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 further comprising an ingestable carrier.
8. The formulation as claimed in claim 7 wherein the ingestable carrier is a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.
9. The formulation as claimed in claim 7 wherein the ingestable carrier is a food product.
10. The formulation as claimed in claim 1 which further comprises a protein and/or peptide, a lipid, a carbohydrate, a vitamin, mineral and/or trace element.
11. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 wherein the Bifidobacterium strain is present in an amount of more than 10 6 cfu per gram of the formulation.
12. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises an adjuvant.
13. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a bacterial component.
14. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a drug entity.
15. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a biological compound.
16. A food stuff comprising an isolated strain of Bifidobacterium deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41387.
17. A medicament comprising an isolated strain of Bifidobacterium deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41387.
18. An anti-inflammatory biotherapeutic agent comprising an isolated strain of Bifidobacterium s deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41387.
19. An anti-inflammatory biotherapeutic agent for reducing the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines comprising a Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 .
20. The formulation as claimed in claim 8 wherein the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier is in the form of a capsule, tablet or powder.
21. The formulation as claimed in claim 9 wherein the food product is selected from the group consisting of: acidified milk, yogurt, frozen yogurt, milk powder, milk concentrate, cheese spreads, dressings and beverages.
22. The formulation as claimed in claim 10 wherein the protein and/or peptides are rich in glutamine/glutamate.