Assessment of the immunomodulatory activity of cheese extracts by a complete and easy to handle in vitro screening methodology.

A simple and rapid screening methodology based on the in vitro culture of murine hybridoma and human T-lymphocytes was developed to assess the potential immunomodulatory activity of water-soluble extracts (WSE) from cheese. The two immune cell lines were cultured in microplates with or without cheese WSE. The proliferation and the metabolic activity of cells were monitored at their different growth phases by the BrdU (5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine) and MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenylterazolium bromide] assays, respectively. WSE from Abondance cheese enhanced DNA synthesis and the metabolic activity of the hybridoma cells (1.2-and 1.3-to 1.6-fold of the control, respectively) and also of the T lymphocytes (1.5-fold of the control) for almost all of the dilutions tested. To evaluate the validity of the results obtained following this screening methodology, hybridoma and T-lymphocyte cells were cultivated in 50 ml flasks: the maximal cell density was increased by about 10-16% in presence of cheese WSE for both cell lines and the antibody production by the hybridoma cells was increased by 50%.