Study: How Removing LTA From a Probiotic Reduces Gut Inflammation

The question this 2011 PNAS study asked was precise: if removing LTA from a standard probiotic changes how the gut immune system responds, what exactly changes — and how? The research team led by Mohamadzadeh took two versions of Lactobacillus acidophilus — one carrying LTA on its outer wall, one engineered without it — and tracked the immune response through the cells and molecules responsible for managing gut inflammation. What they found was not a subtle difference.

What Changes When LTA Is Removed?

The gut's immune system relies heavily on a type of cell called a dendritic cell — think of these as sentinels that patrol gut tissue, sample what bacteria are present, and send signals that tell the rest of the immune system how to respond. When dendritic cells encounter standard L. acidophilus carrying LTA, they respond by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines — specifically IL-12 and TNFα. These are signaling molecules that escalate immune activity and drive inflammation. For someone with IBS, whose gut is already over-reactive, that escalation compounds the problem.

The study found that NCK2025™ — the LTA-deficient strain — the active ingredient in CodonRX, produced the opposite response in those same dendritic cells. Instead of IL-12 and TNFα, they shifted to producing IL-10: an anti-inflammatory cytokine that calms immune activity rather than intensifying it. Same species. Same gut tissue. Opposite immune signal.

What Happens Downstream?

The cytokine shift from IL-12 and TNFα to IL-10 has consequences beyond the dendritic cells themselves. The study found that NCK2025™ also limits the ability of dendritic cells to activate CD4+ T-cells — immune cells frequently involved in driving inflammatory responses. By interrupting that activation, NCK2025™ blocks the cascade before it can amplify.

In plain terms: standard probiotics tell the gut's immune sentinels to sound the alarm. NCK2025™ tells them to stand down.

Why Does This Matter for People With IBS?

The gut's immune environment in someone with IBS is already primed to over-respond. Every time a standard probiotic arrives — even a well-formulated, high-quality one — its LTA is detected by immune cells as a signal to activate. That activation adds to an environment already struggling to calm itself.

What the Mohamadzadeh research demonstrated is that this is not an unavoidable consequence of taking probiotics. It is a consequence of LTA specifically. Remove LTA — as was done to produce NCK2025™ — and the same bacteria produce an anti-inflammatory response instead of an inflammatory one.

Read the full study →