Beneficial activity of Enterococcus faecalis CECT7121 in the anti-lymphoma protective response

To study the anti-tumour effects of Enterococcus faecalis CECT7121 on LBC cells, an aggressive murine T-cell lymphoma that kills the host in 18 days when is intraperitoneally (i.p.) administrated.

In vitro studies have shown that LBC cell proliferation was inhibited by Ent. faecalis CECT7121 stimulus in a dose-dependent manner, inducing apoptosis. The production of ceramide was involved in the latter effect. To undertake in vivo studies, syngeneic BALB/c mice pre-treated i.p. with Ent. faecalis CECT7121 (2.5 × 10(8 ) CFU) were challenged i.p. with LBC cells (1.0 × 10(6) cells) the day after. On day 30 post-inoculation of LBC cells, 70% of Ent. faecalis CECT7121 pre-treated mice survived, whereas no survivals were recorded in the control group. A group of surviving mice was re-challenged with LBC cells, and 89% of them survived. Upon stimulation with irradiated LBC cells, spleen cell proliferation, high IFNγ, IL-12 and IL-10 levels were observed in surviving animals.

Enterococcus faecalis CECT7121 affected multiple factors of the tumour establishment by the following methods: down-regulating the LBC cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in these cells; and enhancing the immune response that protects animals from lymphoma challenge and re-challenge.

This study demonstrate that Ent. faecalis CECT7121 has potential as a probiotic that could facilitate the development of novel complements to therapeutic strategies against oncological diseases.