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

Aims: 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. Methods and Results: 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 center dot 5 x 108 CFU) were challenged i.p. with LBC cells (1 center dot 0 x 106 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 IFN gamma, IL-12 and IL-10 levels were observed in surviving animals. Conclusions: 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. Significance and Impact of the Study: 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.