ORIGINAL ARTICLE Structural Change in Microbiota by a Probiotic Cocktail Enhances the Gut Barrier and Reduces Cancer via TLR2 Signaling in a Rat Model of Colon Cancer Eugene Dogkotenge Kuugbee 1,6 • Xueqi Shang 1 • Yaser Gamallat 1 • Djibril Bamba 1 • Annoor Awadasseid 1 • Mohammed Ahmed Suliman 2 • Shizhu Zang 3 • Yufang Ma 4 • Gift Chiwala 1 • Yi Xin 1 • Dong Shang 5 Received: 24 January 2016 / Accepted: 21 June 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract Background Structural change in the gut microbiota is implicated in cancer. The beneficial modulation of the microbiota composition with probiotics and prebiotics prevents diseases. Aim We investigated the effect of oligofructose–maltodex- trin-enriched Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacteria bifi- dum, and Bifidobacteria infantum (LBB), on the gut microbiota composition and progression of colorectal cancer. Methods Sprague Dawley rats were acclimatized, given ampicillin (75 mg/kg), and treated as follows; GCO: nor- mal control; GPR: LBB only; GPC: LBB? 1,2-dimethyl- hydrazine dihydrochloride (DMH); and GCA: DMH only (cancer control). 16S V4 Pyrosequencing for gut microbiota analysis, tumor studies, and the expression of MUC2, ZO-1, occludin, TLR2, TLR4, caspase 3, COX-2, and b-catenin were conducted at the end of experiment. Results Probiotic LBB treatment altered the gut micro- biota. The relative abundance of genera Pseudomonas, Congregibacter, Clostridium, Candidactus spp., Phaeobacter, Escherichia, Helicobacter, and HTCC was decreased (P \ 0.05), but the genus Lactobacillus increased (P \ 0.05), in LBB treatment than in cancer control. The altered gut microbiota was associated with decreased tumor incidence (80 % in GPC vs. 100 % in GCA, P = 0.0001), tumor volume (GPC 84.23 (42.75–188.4) mm 3 vs. GCA 243 (175.5–344.5) mm 3 , P \ 0.0001) and tumor multiplicity/count (GPC 2.92 ± 0.26 vs. GCA 6.27 ± 0.41; P \ 0.0001). The expression of MUC2, ZO-1, occludin, and TLR2 was increased, but expression of TLR4, caspase 3, Cox-2, and b-catenin was decreased by LBB treatment than in cancer control GCA (P \ 0.05). Conclusion Administration of LBB modulates the gut microbiota and reduces colon cancer development by decreasing tumor incidence, multiplicity/count, and volume via enhanced TLR2-improved gut mucosa epithelial barrier integrity and suppression of apoptosis and inflammation. Keywords Colorectal cancer Á Lactobacillus Á Bifidobacteria Á Probiotics Á Microbiota Á Toll-like receptors (TLRs) Introduction The gut microbiota plays an important role in human dis- eases. It is estimated that the human microbiota composi- tion is about tenfold the number of human cells [1]. The gut Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10620-016-4238-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Yi Xin jimxinyi@yahoo.com & Dong Shang tougao1771@163.com 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China 2 Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China 3 Department of Biotechnology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China 4 Department of Acute Abdominal Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, China 5 Department of Microbiology, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, China 6 Laboratory Department, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Post Office Box 16, Tamale, Ghana 123 Dig Dis Sci DOI 10.1007/s10620-016-4238-7