Characterization of adhesive molecule with affinity to Caco-2 cells in Lactobacillus acidophilus by proteome analysis

The adhesive activities of eight Lactobacillus acidophilus strains toward intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were studied to understand the probiotic characteristics of the L. acidophilus L-92 strain. Most of the strains, including L-92, showed high adhesive activity; CP23 showed the lowest adhesive activity. CP23 was selected for comparative analysis of cell wall-associated proteins versus the L-92 strain. Cell wall-associated proteins extracted from L-92 and CP23 were subjected to two-dimensional electrophoresis, and major spots observed in the former were compared to the corresponding spots in the latter. To understand the effects of key components of L-92 on its adhesion to Caco-2 cells, 18 spots with stronger signals in L-92 than those in CP23 were identified by a MALDI-TOF/TOF of Ultraflex analysis. Among the identified proteins of L-92, surface-layer protein A (SlpA) was considered strongly involved in adhesion in the eight L. acidophilus strains. To study the importance of SlpA in the adhesion of L. acidophilus, the amounts of SlpA proteins in LiCl extracts of the eight strains were compared by SDSpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. As a result, the adhesive abilities of L. acidophilus strains to Caco-2 cells correlated closely to the amount of SlpA in the cells and the productivity of IL-12, an inflammatory cytokine, in all eight strains. These results strongly suggested that SlpA in L. acidophilus might play a key role in its attachment to Caco-2 cells and in the release of IL-12 from dendritic cells.