Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Centro Nacional de Sanidad Agropecuária, Dirección de Producciones Biofarmacêuticas, San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, Cuba.
Microbiology (Reading). 2018 Mar;164(3):349-358. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.000608. Epub 2018 Jan 23.
Lactobacilli are the dominant bacteria of the vaginal tract of healthy women and they play a major role in the maintenance of mucosal homeostasis, preventing genital infections, such as bacterial vaginosis (BV) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC). It is now known that one mechanism of this protection is the influence that lactobacilli can exert on host immune responses. In this context, we evaluated two Lactobacillus strains (L. plantarum 59 and L. fermentum 137) for their immunomodulatory properties in response to Gardnerella vaginalis (BV) or Candida albicans (VVC) infections in a HeLa cell infection model. G. vaginalis and C. albicans triggered the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8) and the activation of NF-κB in HeLa cells, in contrast to L. plantarum 59 and L. fermentum 137. Treatments with the Lactobacillus strains or their cell-free supernatants before (pre-treatment) or after (post-treatment) the challenge with the pathogens resulted in decreased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and decreased activation of NF-κB. The treatments with Lactobacillus strains not only decreased the secretion of IL-8, but also its expression, as confirmed by gene reporter luciferase assay, suggesting transcription-level control by lactobacilli. In conclusion, L. plantarum 59 and L. fermentum 137 were confirmed to have an anti-inflammatory effect against G. vaginalis and C. albicans and they were able to influence signalling in NF-κB pathway, making them interesting candidates as probiotics for the prevention or treatment of BV and VVC.
乳杆菌是健康女性阴道的主要细菌，它们在维持黏膜稳态、预防细菌性阴道病（BV）和外阴阴道念珠菌病（VVC）等生殖器感染方面发挥着重要作用。现在已知，这种保护的一个机制是乳杆菌对宿主免疫反应的影响。在这种情况下，我们评估了两种乳杆菌菌株（植物乳杆菌 59 和发酵乳杆菌 137）在宫颈癌细胞感染模型中对阴道加德纳菌（BV）或白色念珠菌（VVC）感染的免疫调节特性。与植物乳杆菌 59 和发酵乳杆菌 137 相反，阴道加德纳菌和白色念珠菌触发了 HeLa 细胞中促炎细胞因子（TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6 和 IL-8）的分泌和 NF-κB 的激活。在病原体挑战之前（预处理）或之后（后处理）用乳杆菌菌株或其无细胞上清液处理，导致促炎细胞因子的分泌减少和 NF-κB 的激活减少。乳杆菌菌株的处理不仅减少了 IL-8 的分泌，而且还减少了其表达，这通过基因报告荧光素酶测定得到证实，表明乳杆菌在转录水平上控制。总之，植物乳杆菌 59 和发酵乳杆菌 137 被证实对阴道加德纳菌和白色念珠菌具有抗炎作用，并且能够影响 NF-κB 途径中的信号转导，使它们成为预防或治疗 BV 和 VVC 的益生菌的有前途的候选物。
