Probiotic bifidobacterium strains
Bifidobacterium strain AH1206 or mutants or variants thereof are immunomodulatory following oral consumption and are useful in the prophylaxis and/or treatment of inflammatory activity for example undesirable gastrointestinal inflammatory activity such as inflammatory bowel disease.
1. An isolated strain of Bifidobacterium longum strain AH1206 deposited at NCIMB with accession number 41382.
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 which comprises a Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 .
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 such as a capsule, tablet or powder.
9. The formulation as claimed in claim 7 wherein the ingestible carrier is a food product such as acidified milk, yoghurt, frozen yoghurt, milk powder, milk concentrate, cheese spreads, dressings or beverages.
10. The formulation as claimed in claim 4 which further comprises a protein and/or peptide, in particular proteins and/or peptides that are rich in glutamine/glutamate, 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 a Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 .
17. A medicament comprising a bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 .
18. A medicament for treating asthma and/or allergy comprising a Bifidobacterium strain as claimed in claim 1 .
19. The medicament as claimed in claim 18 wherein the medicament is in a form suitable for inhalation.