| Popis: |
Gut microbiota is important for our health and well-being, but when its composition is disrupted, it can induce or perpetuate several chronic inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The mechanisms which distinguish protective microbes from the deleterious or indifferent ones are largely unknown. The aim of this thesis was to study the interaction of the immune system with microbes that have different relationships to IBD pathogenesis. Escherichia coli is a predominant aerobic microorganism of the gastrointestinal tract. This species includes microbes implicated in induction of IBD as well as in its therapy. Four E. coli strains with different relations to IBD were selected for our experiments: E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN), which has been successfully used in IBD therapy, E. coli strains LF82 and p19A, which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD, and E. coli strain K6, which has neither been implicated in pathogenesis nor in protection from this disease. The experiments were performed both with living bacteria and inactivated ones. As the mode of inactivation may change the microbial antigenic structure, we measured how different methods of inactivation, i.e. 1% formaldehyde, exposure to heat or UV irradiation, influence the microbe's immunogenicity. First, we... |
