Endo-glucanase digestion of oat β-Glucan enhances Dectin-1 activation in human dendritic cells

Oat beta-Glucans were studied for their immunological impact before and after enzymatic digestion in order to enhance the efficacy of oat beta-Glucans for application in functional foods. Oat beta-Glucan is reported to have minimal impact compared to its fungal counterpart in vitro. Digestion with endo-glucanase enhanced its efficacy towards stimulating MCP-1, RANTES, IL-8, and IL-4 production in human dendritic cells as compared to the nondigested beta-Glucan. This effect resulted from an enhanced activation of the Dectin-1 receptor. Our data suggest that the immune-stimulation was dependent on the beta-(1-3) linkages and the reduced particle size of digested beta-Glucans. Thus, we show that enzymatic pre-digestion of dietary fibres such as oat beta-Glucan enhances its impact on specific immune receptors. We also demonstrate that particle size and/or molecular weight of oat beta-Glucans and exposure of specific binding sites for the receptors might be important tools for designing efficacious functional feed and food additives. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.