Journal article

Investigation of Streptococcus salivarius-mediated inhibition of pneumococcal adherence to pharyngeal epithelial cells

J Manning, EM Dunne, PA Wescombe, JDF Hale, EK Mulholland, JR Tagg, RM Robins-Browne, C Satzke

BMC Microbiology | BIOMED CENTRAL LTD | Published : 2016

Abstract

Background: Pneumococcal adherence to the nasopharyngeal epithelium is a critical step in colonisation and disease. The probiotic bacterium, Streptococcus salivarius, can inhibit pneumococcal adherence to epithelial cells in vitro. We investigated the mechanism(s) of inhibition using a human pharyngeal epithelial cell line (Detroit 562) following pre-administration of two different strains of S. salivarius. Results: Whilst the bacteriocin-encoding megaplasmids of S. salivarius strains K12 and M18 were essential to prevent pneumococcal growth on solid media, they were not required to inhibit pneumococcal adherence. Experiments testing S. salivarius K12 and two pneumococcal isolates (serotypes..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Murdoch Children's Research Institute


Funding Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and the Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support program. Blis Technologies provided the S. salivarius isolates. JM is supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award, Australian Government. CS is supported by a Career Development Fellowship, National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.