This study presents the characterization of eight bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) previously isolated from a traditional cheese, Pico cheese. All isolates were active against Listeria monocytogenes and only three against Clostridium perfringens. Bioactivity was studied after treatment with different enzymes, organic solvents, surfactants, temperature, pH and NaCl. The antimi...

Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by severe immunologic defects including reduced bacteriocidal activity of neutrophils and impaired natural killer (NK) activity. The diagnostic feature of this syndrome is the presence of giant granules within cells. It was previously demonstrated that the abnormal down-regulation of protein kinase C (PKC) activity ...

Hybridomas producing monoclonal immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies against Salmonella typhimurium were generated by mucosal immunization of BALB/c mice with attenuated strains of S. typhimurium and subsequent fusion of Peyer's patch lymphoblasts with myeloma cells. To test the role of secretory IgA (sIgA) in protection against Salmonella sp., we analyzed in detail the protective capacity of a mo...

Bacteriocins are bacterial proteinaceous toxins with bacteriostatic or bacteriocidal activity towards other bacteria. The current theory on their biological role concerns especially colicins, with underlying social interactions described as an example of spite. This leads to a rock-paper-scissors game between colicin producers and sensitive and resistant variants. The generality of this type of...

In the August number of the Indian Medical Gazette, Captain Windsor experimenting with iodine, found that it was lethal to cholera, typhoid and coli organisms in one minute, when present in the strength of 1 part in 260,000, and lethal to anthrax and Hay bacilli spores in the same time, but in the dilution of 1 part in 8,000. These experiments coincided with mine, as also did his chlorine value...

Multispecies biofilms are becoming increasingly recognized as the naturally occurring state in which bacteria reside. One of the primary health issues that is now recognized to be exacerbated by biofilms are chronic, nonhealing wounds such as venous leg ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, and pressure ulcers. Arguably three of the most important species associated with multispecies biofilms that our ...

Immunological memory is a hallmark of B and T lymphocytes that have undergone a previous encounter with a given antigen. It is assumed that memory cells mediate better protection of the host upon re-infection because of improved effector functions such as antibody production, cytotoxic activity and cytokine secretion. In contrast to cells of the adaptive immune system, innate immune cells are b...

Short-wave ultraviolet light (UVC, 254 nm) can reduce dramatically the microbial load in air or on hard surfaces free from food residues, and can eliminate pathogens from potable water filtered to remove organic residues and 'clumps' of bacteria. More recently, approval of the Food and Drug Administration (USA) has been sought for a system for the destruction of pathogenic bacteria in fruit jui...

In this brief review, we present recent results in the development of fluorescencebased assays for the detection of compounds with cytotoxic, anticancer and antimicrobial properties. As other reviews have explored various aspects related to these topics, this review will focus on the use of the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) for the detection of potentially toxic and/or therapeutic compounds. ...

Myeloperoxidase (MPO), the most abundant neutrophil protein, is a bacteriocidal component of the primary granules and a critical marker in distinguishing acute myelogenous leukemia from acute lymphoid leukemia. A cDNA clone for human MPO was isolated by immunologic screening of human hematopoietic lambda gt11 expression vector libraries with specific anti-MPO antibody. The identity of the cDNA ...