Probiotic mixture VSL#3: An overview of basic and clinical studies in chronic diseases

Table 1 Trials assessing the effect of VSL#3 in patients with diarrhea-predominant enteritis

Ref.	Design	n	VSL#3 intake
Delia et al[40], 2002	Not mentioned	190 patients receiving radiotherapy on the pelvic area (including 95 who received radiotherapy alone and 95 treated with VSL#3)	6 to 7 wk with one bag three times/d
Delia et al[39], 2007	RCT	490 with postoperative radiation therapy	1 sachet (4.5 × 1011 viable lyophilized bacteria/g) three times a day starting from the first day of radiation therapy until the end of radiation therapy
Dubey et al[44], 2008	RCT	230 rotavirus-positive acute diarrhea children; 224 children completed the study (113 in the VSL#3 group and 111 in the placebo group)	4 d, < 5 kg children, 2 sachets a day; 5 to 10 kg children, 4 sachets a day; each sachet of VSL#3 contained 9 × 1010 bacteria
Frohmader et al[46], 2010	RCT	45 who needed enteral nutrition for more than 3 d (including 20 intervention and 25 control)	Not clear
Selinger et al[37], 2013	RCT	229 exposed to systemic antibiotics (including 117 with VSL#3 and 112 with placebo)	1 sachet (4.5 × 1011 live bacteria per sachet) twice a day during the antibiotic course and for a further 7 d
Lacouture et al[47], 2016	Randomized, multicenter, triple cohort, phase II trial	Patients with advanced NSCLC treated with dacomitinib were enrolled in two cohorts (cohort I: 114 patients, including 56 in the doxycycline group, 58 in the placebo group; cohort II: 59 patients with VSL#3 plus topical alclometasone)	5 wk with 4 capsules once daily (patients in the United States) or 1 sachet daily (patients in South Korea) in cohort II

RCT: Randomized controlled trial; NSCLC: Non-small-cell lung cancer.