Oral Treatment with Live Lactobacillus reuteri Inhibits the Allergic Airway Response in Mice

RATIONALE: Clinical trials have demonstrated that probiotics may be effective in the treatment and prevention of atopic disease in children but there have been few reports of therapeutic effects of oral probiotics outside the gastrointestinal tract. OBJECTIVES: We investigated the effect of two probiotic organisms on the response to antigen challenge in a mouse model of allergic airway inflammation.