Agave Fructans as a Carbon Source to Develop a Postbiotic-Based Strategy for the Prophylaxis and Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection.

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacterium that inhabits the gastric mucosa and infects over 50% of the global population, predominantly in developing countries. The organism causes chronic gastritis and is associated with gastric carcinoma. Traditional antibiotic treatment promotes intestinal dysbiosis and antimicrobial resistance. In this context, postbiotics-the metabolic end products of probiotics-have been shown to be powerful antimicrobial alternatives. The excretion/secretion (E/S) products and exopolysaccharides (EPSs) of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been found to exhibit inhibitory activity against pathogens. EPSs are complex sugar polymers involved in biofilm formation and stress resistance, and their activity varies with culture conditions. Most notably, no digestible carbohydrates, such as those present in agave-derived Graminan-Type fructans (GTFs), are effective carbon sources for LAB, which, in turn, affects their metabolic end products. In this study, the E/S products and EPSs of the INP_MX_001 LAB strain were assayed for antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity after growth with three structurally different GTFs. Results indicated potent inhibition of H. pylori survival and biofilm formation in vitro. Our results confirm the promise of using LAB-derived postbiotics, particularly those produced with GTFs, as a novel, non-antibiotic means of combating H. pylori colonization and infection.