Institute for Medical Microbiology, Justus-Liebig University, Frankfurter strasse 107, D-35392 Giessen, Germany.
Microb Biotechnol. 2008 Sep;1(5):361-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-7915.2008.00037.x. Epub 2008 Jun 9.
Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive bacterium that is able to survive both in the environment and to invade and multiply within eukaryotic cells. Currently L. monocytogenes represents one of the most well-studied and characterized microorganisms in bacterial pathogenesis. A hallmark of L. monocytogenes virulence is its ability to breach bodily barriers such as the intestinal epithelium, the blood-brain barrier as well as the placental barrier to cause severe systemic disease. Curiously, this theme is repeated at the level of the interaction between the individual cell and the bacterium where its virulence factors contribute to the ability of the bacteria to breach cellular barriers. L. monocytogenes is a model to study metabolic requirements of bacteria growing in an intracellular environment, modulation of signalling pathways in the infected cell and interactions with cellular defences involving innate and adaptive immunity. Technical advances such as the creation of LISTERIA-susceptible mouse strains, had added interest in the study of the natural pathogenesis of the disease via oral infection. The use of attenuated strains of L. monocytogenes as vaccines has gained considerable interest because they can be used to express heterologous antigens as well as to somatically deliver recombinant DNA to eukaryotic cells. A novel vaccine concept, the use of non-viable but metabolically active bacteria to induced immunoprotective responses, has been developed with L. monocytogenes. In this mini-review, we review the strategies used by L. monocytogenes to subvert the cellular functions at different stages of the infection cycle in the host and examine how these properties are being exploited in biotechnological and clinical applications.
李斯特菌是一种革兰氏阳性细菌，能够在环境中生存，并侵入和在真核细胞内繁殖。目前，李斯特菌是细菌发病机制中研究和描述最充分的微生物之一。李斯特菌的毒力标志之一是其能够突破身体屏障，如肠道上皮、血脑屏障和胎盘屏障，导致严重的全身疾病。奇怪的是，这一主题在个体细胞与细菌之间的相互作用中得到了重复，其毒力因子有助于细菌突破细胞屏障的能力。李斯特菌是研究在细胞内环境中生长的细菌代谢需求、感染细胞中信号通路的调节以及涉及固有和适应性免疫的细胞防御相互作用的模型。技术进步，如创建易受李斯特菌感染的小鼠品系，增加了通过口服感染研究疾病自然发病机制的兴趣。使用李斯特菌减毒株作为疫苗引起了相当大的兴趣，因为它们可以用来表达异源抗原，以及将重组 DNA体细胞传递给真核细胞。利用非存活但代谢活跃的细菌来诱导免疫保护反应的新型疫苗概念已经在李斯特菌中得到了发展。在这篇迷你综述中，我们回顾了李斯特菌在宿主感染周期的不同阶段颠覆细胞功能的策略，并探讨了这些特性如何在生物技术和临床应用中得到利用。
