ABSTRACT
Probiotic microorganisms able to regulate the immune system (immunobiotics) are generally selected from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains (Marco et al. 2006; Kitazawa et al. 2008). The tightening of legislation in several countries for probiotic health claims has led to continued scientifi c and industrial interest to unravel the molecular mechanisms responsible for the observed beneficial probiotic traits. The beneficial effects of immunobiotic lactobacilli have been demonstrated in several in vitro and in vivo studies, which revealed a variety of host effects and generated several hypotheses about the mechanisms by which immunobiotics infl uence their hosts (Lebeer et al. 2008; Villena et al. 2011; Bron et al. 2012).
