Publications by authors named "Huub F J Savelkoul"

This study investigated bioactive carbohydrate-related compounds in rye grain overgrown with Agaricus subrufescens mycelia (ROM), using cytokine induction in chicken immune cells. We focused on polysaccharides, as they have been suggested to mediate immunomodulatory effects of rye and Agaricus subrufescens. Fractionation of rye and ROM and subsequent testing fractions on macrophage cell line HD11 showed that IL-12p40 production was mainly induced by hot water-soluble solids (HWSS) with ROM-HWSS more active than rye-HWSS.

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This study aimed to optimize the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of polysaccharides from fermented (FAPS) and to investigate the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of the extracted polysaccharides. Using a combination of single-factor experiments and response surface methodology based on a Box-Behnken design, we improved the extraction of crude FAPS without deproteinization. Under optimal conditions (50 °C, 60 min, 8 mL/g, 480 W), the yield of crude FAPS obtained by UAE (7.

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The Maillard reaction (MR, glycation) frequently occurs during processing of soy-based products widely consumed in Western diets. MR leads to the formation of a number of chemically different structures called Maillard reaction products (MRPs), which include early glycation products and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs/MRPs were shown to modulate the immune response by interaction with specific receptors expressed on immune cells, such as the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE).

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Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are products of a non-enzymatic reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars. Glycated human serum albumin (HSA) increases in diabetics as a consequence of elevated blood glucose levels and glycating metabolites like methylglyoxal (MGO). The impact of different types of glycation on the immunomodulatory properties of HSA is poorly understood and is studied here.

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Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a coronavirus that induces diarrhea in pigs, leading to severe economic losses in the global pig industry. Currently, effective antiviral treatments for porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) are rarely available for clinical use. Zinc (Zn), an essential mineral, is known to reduce diarrhea in piglets transitioning from milk to solid feed by modulating immune system activity.

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Secretory IgA is crucial for preventing the invasion of entero-pathogens via intestinal mucosa. While it is well-established that Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) regulates IgA production in human and mouse B cells, our previous investigation revealed different functions of TGF-β1 in IgA generation in pigs compared with humans and mice, with the underlying mechanism remaining elusive. In this study, IgM B cells from porcine Peyer's patches (PPs) were isolated and stimulated with recombinant porcine TGF-β1 to evaluate the effect of TGF-β1 on pigs.

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IgA plays a vital role in defending against the infectious pathogens. However, the specific regulatory pathways involved in IgA secretion in the context of PEDV infection have remained elusive. Therefore, in this study, we explore the molecular mechanisms underlying IgA secretion in response to infection, with a particular focus on PEDV, a devastating enteric virus affecting global swine production.

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Strain-specific probiotics can present antioxidant activity and reduce damage caused by oxidation. Streptococcus alactolyticus strain FGM (S. alactolyticus strain FGM) isolated from the chicken cecum shows potential probiotic properties which have been previously demonstrated.

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Bovine milk contains bioactive proteins, carbohydrates, and phospholipids with immunomodulatory properties impacting human immunity, potentially contributing to resistance to infections and allergies through diverse mechanisms. One such mechanism is the enhancing of the innate immune response to secondary pathogen-related stimuli, termed innate immune training. Although studies demonstrate that milk immunoglobulin G (IgG) can train human monocytes, evidence for immune training is limited.

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Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is a pig coronavirus that causes severe diarrhea and high mortality in piglets, but as no effective drugs are available, this virus threatens the pig industry. Here, we found that the intestinal contents of specific pathogen-free pigs effectively blocked PEDV invasion. Through proteomic and metabolic analyses of the intestinal contents, we screened 10 metabolites to investigate their function and found that linoleic acid (LA) significantly inhibited PEDV replication.

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Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection poses a significant threat to the global pig industry. Current prevention and control strategies are inadequate in protecting pigs from new PEDV variants. This review aims to examine the relationship between PEDV and intestinal microbes, and investigate whether modulating intestinal microbes could affect PEDV infection.

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During and after the pollen season, an increase in food-triggered allergic symptoms has been observed in pollen-food syndrome patients, possibly due to seasonal boosting of pollen-IgE levels. It has been suggested that consumption of birch-pollen-related foods plays a role in seasonal allergenic inflammation. However, whether this increased pollen sensitization during the pollen season can also affect the allergenicity of allergens that are non-cross-reactive with birch pollen remains in question.

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Introduction: Recently, specific IgE (sIgE) sensitization against Gly m 8 (soy 2S albumin) has been described as a good diagnostic marker for soy allergy (SA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of Gly m 8 by determining the sensitization profiles based on the homologues soy allergens Bet v 1, Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3.

Methods: Thirty soy-allergic adults were included; sIgE to total soy extract, Gly m 8, Gly m 4, Gly m 5, Gly m 6, Bet v 1, Ara h 1, Ara h 2, and Ara h 3 were determined.

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Background: Agaricus subrufescens is considered as one of the most important culinary-medicinal mushrooms around the world. It has been widely suggested to be used for the development of functional food ingredients to promote human health ascribed to the various properties (e.g.

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Linoleic acid (LA) is recommended to improve pork quality. However, whether it affects the intestinal immune response in pigs is still unclear. Our ex vivo experiments demonstrated that LA stimulation resulted in increased frequencies of Tregs in PBMCs but not in Peyer's Patches (PPs).

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Accelerating the induction of tolerance to cow's milk (CM) reduces the burden of cow's milk allergy (CMA). In this randomised controlled intervention study, we aimed to investigate the tolerance induction of a novel heated cow milk protein, the iAGE product, in 18 children with CMA (diagnosed by a paedriatric allergist). Children who tolerated the iAGE product were included.

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The experimental challenge with attenuated enterotoxigenic E. coli strain E1392/75-2A prevents diarrhea upon a secondary challenge with the same bacteria. A dose-response pilot study was performed to investigate which immunological factors are associated with this protection.

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Since the emergence of the highly pathogenic porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) strain in 2010, the prevention of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in pig farms remains problematic. To find the reasons behind the high mortality in young piglets, the relative mRNA expression of inflammation-related factors in infected pigs of different ages as well as uninfected pigs were detected by RT-qPCR. The results showed that the mRNA expression of these factors including IL-6 and TNF-α was more increased in infected younger piglets than infected older pigs.

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Bovine milk IgG (bIgG) was shown to bind to and neutralize the human respiratory synovial virus (RSV). In animal models, adding bIgG prevented experimental RSV infection and increased the number of activated T cells. This enhanced activation of RSV-specific T cells may be explained by receptor-mediated uptake and antigen presentation after binding of bIgG-RSV immune complexes (ICs) with FcγRs (primarily CD32) on human immune cells.

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Cytokines like interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12p40 are important biomarkers for characterizing the nature and strength of immune responses. It is important to be able to quantify the cytokines at the protein level in biological samples. Quantification of chicken cytokines is generally performed on the level of messenger RNA (mRNA) by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) because very few capture ELISAs for the quantification of chicken cytokine proteins are commercially available.

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The high mortality upon enteric virus infection in piglets causes huge economic losses. To control these infections, potential causes for this high susceptibility for enteric virus infections in younger piglets were analyzed by comparing the intestinal barrier between 1-week, 2-week and 4-week-old piglets. In this study, histological staining was used to analyze morphological differences in intestinal villi, real-time qPCR was performed to assess mRNA expression levels of genes that were related to viral infection and differentiation of immune cells, and flow cytometry was utilized to measure the frequencies of T cells.

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Immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses have been suggested to confer naturally acquired immunity to Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Cytophilic IgG1 and IgG3 with their potential for opsonization, phagocytosis, and antibody-dependent cellular inhibition in association with monocytes have been suggested to have a critical role in malaria. The potential for production of antibodies is influenced by micronutrient status.

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The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and associated development of clinical symptoms of COVID-19 have presented an enormous global impact on our health care systems, public health and economy. To date several observational epidemiological studies consistently found that vitamin D deficiency, measured as low levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, is associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, certain cancers, autoimmune diseases and many infectious diseases, including acute respiratory infections. Since vitamin D is not merely immunosuppressive but also acts as an immunomodulator in tolerance and homeostasis, many experts have considered a role of vitamin D in the prevalence and severity of immune mediated inflammatory diseases, such as SARS-CoV-2, adding to the evidence of the importance of vitamin D in the immune response against viral respiratory infections and reinforcing the need for targeted vitamin D supplementation, with a focus on high-risk populations and a high-dose supplementation treatment for COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

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A common method to study protein complexes is immunoprecipitation (IP), followed by mass spectrometry (thus labeled: IP-MS). IP-MS has been shown to be a powerful tool to identify protein-protein interactions. It is, however, often challenging to discriminate true protein interactors from contaminating ones.

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