Kinetic and Antigenic Characterization of Altered Protein Synthesis by Campylobacter jejuni during Cultivation with

Cultivation of Campylobacter jejuni with INT 407 cell monolayer cultures results in new or enhanced synthesis of a number ofproteins compared with bacteria cultured in the absence of the epithelial cells. These proteins were detected within 60 min after the addition of the bacteria to the epithelial cell cultures, and their synthesis was temporally associated with an increase in C. jejuni internalization. A rabbit antiserum raised against bacteria that were cultivated with INT 407 cells recognized nine proteins that were not recognized by an antiserum against C. jejuni cultivated in medium alone. The former antiserum inhibited the internalization, but not the binding, of Campylobacter jejuni in a dose-dependent fashion. The results suggest that one or more of the proteins synthesized by C. jejuni in response to cocultivation with epithelial cells plays a role in facilitating internalization. Campy/obaeter jejuni is now recognized as a common cause of acute enteritis in humans [1]. Despite this recogni-tion, the pathogenic mechanisms associated with Campy/o-baeter enteritis remain ill-defined. Penetration of the intes-tinal epithelium by C. jejuni has been proposed as on