Lactocepin secreted by Lactobacillus exerts anti-inflammatory effects by selectively degrading proinflammatory chemokines.

The intestinal microbiota has been linked to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), and oral treatment with specific bacteria can ameliorate IBD. One bacterial mixture, VSL#3, containing Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Streptococcus, was clinically shown to reduce inflammation in IBD patients and normalize intestinal levels of IP-10, a lymphocyte-recruiting chemokine, in a murine colitis model. We identified Lactobacillus paracasei prtP-encoded lactocepin as a protease that selectively degrades secreted, cell-associated, and tissue-distributed IP-10, resulting in significantly reduced lymphocyte recruitment after intraperitoneal injection in an ileitis model.

Preparation of passion fruit-typical 2-alkyl ester enantiomers via lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution.

The preparation of ester enantiomers (acetates, butanoates, hexanoates and octanoates) of the secondary alcohols 2-pentanol, 2-heptanol and 2-nonanol via lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolutions was investigated. Conversion rates and stereochemical courses of esterification and hydrolysis reactions catalyzed by commercially available enzyme preparations were followed for the homologous series of these passion fruit-typical 2-alkyl esters by capillary gas chromatography using heptakis(2,3-di-O-methyl-6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-beta-cyclodextrin as chiral stationary phase. An efficient method was developed to prepare the ester enantiomers via lipase-catalyzed esterifications: optically pure (R)-2-alkyl esters (ee > 99.