Effects of a probiotic milk drink on salivary tumor necrosis factor-alpha in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the induction phase

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the short-term use of a probiotic milk drink on salivary tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) during the induction phase of chemotherapy. Methods: A randomized, case-controlled clinical trial was carried out. The samples of the study were collected from 11 children with ALL and 11 healthy children as the control. Both groups received a probiotic milk drink. The probiotic milk drink contained Lactobacillus casei (6.5×10⁹ colony forming unit/mL). The subjects were instructed to rinse 5 mL of probiotic milk drink for 30 s over the course of 2 weeks. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected from patients at baseline and 1 and 2 weeks after rinsing with the probiotic milk drink. The levels of TNF-α were determined using a human TNF-α enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: The salivary TNF-α levels in the experimental group decreased but not to a statistically significant degree (p>0.05) when comparing the baseline with weeks 1 and 2 after rinsing. There was a significant decrease of salivary TNF-α levels in the control group (p<0.05) when comparing the baseline with 1 and 2 weeks after rinsing. The concentration of salivary TNF-α in the experimental group was higher than in the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the effect of a short-term intake of a probiotic milk drink on children with ALL during the induction phase of chemotherapy. The results show a reduction of salivary TNF-α after taking the probiotic milk drink after 1 week and 2 weeks, although the results were not statistically significant.