Table 1 Characteristics of studies included in the review

Prakoeswa, 2020 (Indonesia)

DB, RCT

30 adult patients with mild to moderate AD (aged > 14 years), serum IgE levels > 100 IU/ml

Probiotic microencapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum (LPIS-10506) 2 × 10¹⁰ CFU per day for 8 weeks (n = 15, 4 males, 11 females, mean age 37.67 ± 15.92)

Placebo group with skim milk-Avicel (n = 15, 5 males, 10 females, mean age 38.07 ± 12.84)

SCORAD

IgE

IL-17

IFN-γ

FOXP3 + 

Skin lesion area DLQI

Safety assessment (adverse drug reaction)

Drago, 2011 (Italy)

DB, RCT

38 patients (18 males and 20 females) aged 18–46 years old with moderate/severe AD

Probiotic Lactobacillus salivarius (LS01) 1 × 10⁹ CFU/g in maltodextrin, twice daily for 16 weeks (n = 19, mean age 32.07 ± 1.79)

Placebo group with maltodextrin (n = 19, mean age 28.86 ± 2.15)

SCORAD

DLQ

Serum IgE

IL-12

IFN-γ

IL-4

IL-5

-

Iemoli, 2012 (Italy)

DB, RCT

48 adult AD patients, 20 males and 28 females. 2 patients were lost to follow-up and excluded (1 in each group)

Lactobacillus salivarius (LS01 DSM 2275) and Bifidobacterium breve (BR03 DSM 11,604), each with dose of 1 × 10⁹ CFU/g in maltodextrin, twice daily for 12 weeks (n = 31, mean age 32.44 ± 1.47)

Placebo group with maltodextrin (n = 15, mean age 30.91 ± 2.79)

SCORAD

DLQ

Plasma LPS

Treg

Active T-lymphocyte

Inoue, 2015 (Japan)

DB, RCT

49 patients with AD (> 16 years old)

Lactobacillus acidophilus (L-92) 20.7 mg/day in tablet, for 8 weeks (n = 24, 14 males, 10 females, mean age 29.6 ± 13.8)

Placebo group with tablet containing maltose, starch, vegetable oil and fat (n = 25, 14 males, 11 females, mean age 29.7 ± 14.5)

SCORAD

Serum IgE

Eosinophil

LDH

TALC

IL-4, IL-5. IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-17, IL-18

Eotaxin

IFN-γ

TNF-α

TGF-β

Moroi, 2010 (Japan)

DB, RCT

34 adult patients with mild to moderate AD (aged 20–65 years old)

Lactobacillus paracasei (K71) 5 × 100 mg (~ 2 × 10¹¹ bacteria) and 400 mg dextrin NSD300 in powder, daily for 12 weeks (n = 17, 5 males, 12 females, mean age 29.4 ± 5.7)

Placebo group with 500 mg dextrin and 0.45 mg carotene base in powder (n = 17, 5 males, 12 females, mean age 31.6 ± 10.1)

Skin severity score

Itch score

QoL impairment score

Matsumoto, 2014 (Japan)

DB, RCT

44 adult patients with moderate to severe AD

Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis (LKM 512) 6 × 10⁹ CFU with excipients (skim milk, glucose, inulin, dextrin, silicon dioxide) in capsule, daily for 8 weeks (n = 22, 14 males, 8 females, mean age 33.5 ± 8.6)

Placebo group with only excipients in capsule (n = 22, 10 males, 12 females, mean age 34.1 ± 8.7)

Itch improvement level

VAS score

QoL

Fecal microbiota