Lactobacillus acidophilus: Boosting Immunity Through IL-6 Induction

Background and Objectives: Probiotics are live microorganisms that promote health when consumed in adequate amounts, ensure the balance of bacterial composition in the digestive system, and suppress harmful pathogenic bacteria, with overall implications for animal and human health, welfare and performance. However, a lot remains unclear about their functional mechanisms. Materials and Methods: In this study, 14 uncharacterized proteins of Lactobacillus acidophilus were analyzed for subcellular localization, structural and safety profiling and interleukin-6-(IL-6)-inducing potential. Results: Aliphatic index scores were generally high, ranging between 138.39 (LBA1705) and 78.39 (LBA1825). The instability index scores were less than 40 for all the query proteins except for LBA0995. All the proteins produced immunogenic IL-6-inducing peptides, except for LBA0037, LBA1825 and LBA1788. Conclusions: The findings provide insight into understanding the functional mechanism of probiotic Lactobacillus, laying a strong foundation for more experimental studies.