S. Ellmerich et al., Production of cytokines by monocytes, epithelial and endothelial cells activated by Streptococcus bovis, CYTOKINE, 12(1), 2000, pp. 26-31
There are numerous reports documenting the correlation between Streptococcu
s bovis bacteraemia and endocarditis in conjunction with colonic diseases,
The adherence of S. bovis to either buccal or intestinal epithelial cells s
eems to be the initial process in colonization and subsequent infection of
the host, allowing further adhesion of S, bovis to either endothelial cells
or extracellular matrix components which leads to infective endocarditis,
Bacterial entry at tumour sites is further assisted by the local action of
cytokines that promotes vasodilatation and increased capillary permeability
, Thus the ability of S, bovis to adhere to and to stimulate human cells ma
y contribute to the pathogenicity of this bacteria. In the present study, N
e have shown the ability of S, bovis and wall-extracted antigens (WEA) to a
dhere to human buccal (KB) or intestinal (Caco-2) epithelial cell lines, to
human saphenous vein endothelial cells, to human monocytic cell line (THP-
1) and to extracellular matrix components (ECM) (fibronectin, collagen and
laminin), The fixation of S, bovis on cells was followed by the synthesis o
f IL-8 from all the cells except Caco-2, whereas S, bovis WEA was able to i
nduce cytokine synthesis from an of therm, showing the immunomodulatory eff
ect of S, bovis and S, bovis WEA on different cells. (C) 2000 Academic Pres
s.