Listeria monocytogenes has been implicated in a number of outbreaks including the recent largest outbreak in South Africa. Current methods for prevention of foodborne
L. monocytogenes infection are inadequate, thus raising a need for an alternative strategy. Probiotic bioengineering is considered a prevailing approach to enhance the efficacy of probiotics for targeted control of pathogens. Here, the ability of
Lactobacillus casei expressing the
L. monocytogenes invasion proteins Internalins A and B (
inlAB) to prevent infection was investigated. The
inlAB operon was cloned and surface-expressed on
L. casei resulting in a recombinant strain, Lbc
InlAB, and subsequently, its ability to inhibit adhesion, invasion and translocation of
L. monocytogenes through enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells was examined. Cell surface expression of InlAB on the Lbc
InlAB was confirmed by Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. The Lbc
InlAB strain showed significantly higher (
P <
0.0001) adherence, invasion and translocation of Caco-2 cells than the wild-type
L.
casei strain (Lbc
WT), as well as reduced
L. monocytogenes adhesion, invasion and transcellular passage through the cell monolayer than Lbc
WT. Furthermore, pre-exposure of Caco-2 cells to Lbc
InlAB significantly reduced
L. monocytogenes-induced cell cytotoxicity and epithelial barrier dysfunction. These results suggest that InlAB-expressing
L.
casei could be a potential practical approach for prevention of listeriosis.
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