‘Reliable, powerful evidence’: Probiotics NVP-1703 a potential treatment for allergic rhinitis – Four-week RCT

25-Jun-2020 - Last updated on 25-Jun-2020 at 00:16 GMT

Symptoms of allergic rhinitis symptoms include nasal congestion and watery eyes. ©Getty Images

A probiotics product consisting of two bacteria strains has shown to be a potential “treatment option” for long-term allergic rhinitis (AR), reported the findings of a four-week randomised controlled trial.

The probiotics NVP-1703 is a combination of bifidobacterium longum IM55 and lactobacillus plantarum IM76. The two strains are isolated from the human gut and fermented food respectively.

The two strains combined has improved rhinitis symptoms, especially nasal congestion, watery eyes, sleep disturbances, and rhinorrhea – where the nasal cavity is filled with mucus fluid, said the study published in Nutrients.

A total of 95 subjects suffering from mild to moderate rhinitis for at least two years were recruited. To measure the effects of the probiotics alone, they were not allowed to continue their medications during the trial.

The experiment group took 10bn CFU of NVP-1703 once a day for four weeks, while the control group took the placebo.

The subjects were required to record their rhinitis symptoms in a diary and tabulate their total nasal symptom scores (TNSS) and rhinitis control assessment test (RCAT) each week.

The lower the TNSS, the greater the improvement seen, while the opposite is true for the RCAT scores.

The experiment group saw a statistically significant (p-value less than 0.05) change in both their TNSS and RCAT scores.

For example, their TNSS score dropped from 8.09 to 6.40, while that of the placebo went down from 7.55 to 6.90 by the end of the study, with a p-value of 0.029.

Their RCAT score also went up from 15.44 to 19.27, while that of the placebo increased to a smaller extent from 15.26 to 17.47, with a p-value of 0.049.

“To our knowledge, NVP-1703 is the first probiotic mixture that has been proven to be effective in patients with symptomatic AR without any additional medication or the need for rescue medication.

“Our results contribute reliable and powerful evidence for the efficacy of probiotics in AR treatment,” the researchers concluded.

South Korean firm Pharm Navi supplied the probiotics for this trial which was funded by the country’s Ministry of Science and the Hallym University.

Mechanisms

Intake of NVP-1703 had helped subjects maintain their serum level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, whereas the placebo group saw a significant drop in their IL-10 level by the end of the trial.

For example, while the IL-10 level in the placebo dropped from 2.23 to 1.97, it stayed at about the same level, only going down slightly from 2.22 to 2.16 in the experiment group.

“These results suggest that NVP-1703 regulates IL-10, one of the key immunological markers associated with AR, thereby improving symptoms of perennial AR,” the researchers said.

For future studies, they have recommended to conduct the experiment over a longer period of time in larger populations.

Source: Nutrients

Probiotic NVP-1703 alleviates allergic rhinitis by inducing IL-10 expression: A four-week clinical trial

DOI:10.3390/nu12051427

Authors: Kang, Han, and et al