J Med Microbiol 56 (2007), 1011-1016; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.47194-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644
A synthetic polypeptide based on human E-cadherin inhibits invasion of human intestinal and liver cell lines by Listeria monocytogenes
Saura C. Sahu,
Dennis W. Gaines,
Kristina M. Williams and
Richard B. Raybourne
Immunobiology Branch, Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, United States Food and Drug Administration, Laurel, MD 20708, USA
Correspondence
Richard B. Raybourne
richard.raybourne{at}fda.hhs.gov
Received 29 January 2007
Accepted 31 March 2007
Internalin A is a surface protein of the facultative intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes that interacts with the human host cell protein E-cadherin to facilitate invasion of epithelial cells. A single amino acid substitution at position 16 in mouse E-cadherin prevents this interaction. Synthetic polypeptides of 30 aa encompassing position 16 of human and mouse E-cadherin were tested for their ability to inhibit in vitro invasion of Caco-2, HepG2 and TIB73 cell lines by L. monocytogenes. Only the human-derived peptide was capable of inhibiting invasion in the human-origin Caco-2 and HepG2 cell lines. These findings demonstrate that small polypeptides can inhibit invasion of biologically relevant cell types by L. monocytogenes in vitro and may be potentially useful as therapeutic agents in vivo.
Abbreviations: GFP, green fluorescent protein.
Copyright © 2007 Society for General Microbiology.
