Abstract
ABSTRACT
Objective: Research into Campylobacter jejuni pathogenesis and host responses to C. jejuni infection is needed in the fight against human campylobacteriosis.
Methods: We established intravenous infections of BALB/c mice with either a C. jejuni food isolate or C. jejuni of human origin. Further we include PCR to demonstrate the presence and stability of the putative virulence genes cadF, virbB11, cdtB, cdtC, ceuE in C. jejuni isolates and we examined cytokine production of IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-10 in the livers of these infected mice.
Results: We confirm here the presence of the cadF, cdtB, cdtC and ceuE genes in a food and a clinical C. jejuni isolate, with no sequence changes after the C. jejuni sub-culturing in a food model and when recovered from mouse liver after infection. Both of these C. jejuni isolates persisted in the mouse livers and activated comparable cytokine patterns for IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-10, with down-regulation of IL-6.
Conclusions: These data show the comparability of these C. jejuni food and clinical isolates in terms of the prevalence and stability of their putative virulence genes and the outcome of disease during systemic murine campylobacteriosis.