Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes severe disease in immunosuppressed patients and notably infects the gastrointestinal tract. To understand the interaction of CMV with intestinal epithelial cells, which are highly susceptible to CMV infection in vivo, we used the intestinal epithelial cell line Caco-2 and demonstrated that CMV enters predominantly through the basolateral surface of polarized C...

Invasion in and translocation across enterocytes are major events during Campylobacter jejuni-induced enteritis in humans. C. jejuni in vitro infection of cell monolayers typically results in loss of tight junction integrity, which could contribute to translocation. In the present study, we wanted to investigate whether butyrate is able to confer protection to Caco-2 cells against C. jejuni inv...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a multidrug-resistant pathogen and one of the leading causes of nosocomial infection worldwide. Probiotic bacteria play a significant role in preventive or therapeutic interventions of gastrointestinal infections in human as well as animals. In this study, we have investigated the adhesion property of the probiotic strain Lactobacillus ferme...

BACKGROUND Understanding the interaction of graphene-related materials (GRM) with human cells is a key to the assessment of their potential risks for human health. There is a knowledge gap regarding the potential uptake of GRM by human intestinal cells after unintended ingestion. Therefore the aim of our study was to investigate the interaction of label-free graphene oxide (GO) with the intesti...

Breaking the balance between proliferation and differentiation in animal cells can lead to cancer, but the mechanisms maintaining this balance remain largely undefined. The calcium activated chloride channel A1 (CLCA1) is a member of the calcium sensitive chloride conductance family of proteins and is expressed mainly in the colon, small intestine and appendix. We show that CLCA1 plays a functi...

Competition of commensal and probiotic bacteria with pathogens for adhesion and colonization is one of the important protective mechanisms of gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we examined the ability of Lactobacillus paracasei to inhibit the adhesion of pathogenic Salmonella enterica to human colon adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells. Caco-2 cells were grown for 6 or 21 days to obtain nondifferent...