In Vitro evaluation of the impact of the probiotic E. coli Nissle 1917 on Campylobacter jejuni's invasion and intracellular survival in human colonic cells

Yosra A. Helmy, Issmat I. Kassem, Anand Kumar, Gireesh Rajashekara

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of bacterial food poisoning in humans. Due to the rise in antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter, there exists a need to develop antibiotic-independent interventions to control infections in humans. Here, we evaluated the impact of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN), a probiotic strain, on C. jejuni's invasion and intracellular survival in polarized human colonic cells (HT-29). To further understand how EcN mediates its impact, the expression of 84 genes associated with tight junctions and cell adhesion was profiled in HT-29 cells after treatment with EcN and challenge with C. jejuni. The pre-treatment of polarized HT-29 cells with EcN for 4 h showed a significant effect on C. jejuni's invasion (∼2 log reduction) of the colonic cells. Furthermore, no intracellular C. jejuni were recovered from EcN pre-treated HT-29 cells at 24 h post-infection. Other probiotic strains tested had no significant impact on C. jejuni invasion and intracellular survival. C. jejuni decreased the expression of genes associated with epithelial cells permeability and barrier function in untreated HT-29 cells. However, EcN positively affected the expression of genes that are involved in enhanced intestinal barrier function, decreased cell permeability, and increased tight junction integrity. The results suggest that EcN impedes C. jejuni invasion and subsequent intracellular survival by affecting HT-29 cells barrier function and tight junction integrity. We conclude that EcN might be a viable alternative for controlling C. jejuni infections.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1588
JournalFrontiers in Microbiology
Volume8
Issue numberAUG
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 22 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Research in the Rajashekara laboratory is funded by grants from the USDA (AFRI USDA, Grant # 2012-68003-19679) and the Ohio State University’s SEEDS program.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Helmy, Kassem, Kumar and Rajashekara.

Funding

Research in the Rajashekara laboratory is funded by grants from the USDA (AFRI USDA, Grant # 2012-68003-19679) and the Ohio State University’s SEEDS program.

FundersFunder number
USDA-NIFA-AFRI2012-68003-19679
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Ohio State University

    Keywords

    • Adhesion
    • Campylobacter
    • E. coli Nissle 1917
    • HT-29 cells
    • Intracellular survival
    • Invasion
    • Probiotic
    • Tight junctions

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Microbiology
    • Microbiology (medical)

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