The PERIOD Study: Tracking Inflammation in a Probiotic Trial for Period Pain
A UKM trial tested probiotics for primary dysmenorrhoea. Its inflammatory markers were measured with a Luminex multiplex panel supplied by Prima Nexus.
Case study · From a published paper · Luminex multiplex panels
The challenge
Primary dysmenorrhoea, period pain without an underlying disease, lowers quality of life, and its cause is still unclear. Probiotics had been used for endometriosis symptoms but, as far as the authors knew, had never been prescribed for primary dysmenorrhoea.
What Prima Nexus did
To see whether probiotics change inflammation, the team measured interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and TNF-alpha before and after treatment in a subset of 14 women (28 samples), using a MILLIPLEX MAP Human High Sensitivity T-Cell Magnetic Bead Panel from Prima Nexus, read on a Luminex MAGPIX.
What the study found
Seventy-two women took a sachet of six probiotic strains or a placebo twice a day for three months. Quality-of-life scores did not differ between groups, and pain improved in both. The probiotic group used somewhat fewer painkillers (NSAIDs), a difference that was not statistically significant, and had better mental health scores (mean change 6.5, p = 0.03, against 6.1, p = 0.08).
The inflammatory cytokines did not change significantly. The authors call for larger studies to confirm the findings.
Why it matters
Measuring IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha together gave the trial a first test of whether the probiotic acted through inflammation, and the answer is part of the published evidence. Prima Nexus supplies Luminex multiplex panels for clinical and preclinical studies.
In the paper's own words
“The levels of inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were measured using the multiplex immunoassay MILLIPLEX MAP Human High Sensitivity T-Cell Magnetic Bead Panel (Prima Nexus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).”
Women's Health, 2024, Methods
About Prima Nexus
Prima Nexus Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian research coordination group founded in 2014. It connects universities, research institutes and global technology partners, and runs eight scientific platforms under one roof: proteomics (including ELISA and Luminex multiplex immunoassays), genomics, flow cytometry, stem cell research, animal research, clinical trials, bioinformatics, and regulatory and grant support. Programmes it coordinates have supported more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and research teams at more than 40 institutions across Malaysia. More about Prima Nexus.
