AskNature

“Applying a harmless bacterium or its products to surgical wounds may thwart infections by the dangerous pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and one that grows more threatening as the incidence of antibiotic resistance rises…The bacterium, known as Lactobacillus fermentum, seems to exert at least part of its protective effects by secreting a protein that prevents S. aureus from binding to its target cells.” (Strauss 2000:2231-2233)

“…although probiotic lactobacilli protect against a number of infections, the exact mechanisms responsible for this activity are not entirely clear. However, we recently showed that the RC-14 BSF [biosurfactant] contains a number of collagen-binding (Cnb) proteins [10] including a 29-kDa Cnb (p29Cnb) that can inhibit the adhesion of Enterococcus faecalis 1131 in vitro [5]. Given that S. aureus often initiates host binding via cell surface extracellular matrix-binding proteins (ECMBPs) [11], it seems reasonable to suggest that ECMBPs present within RC-14 BSF may effectively compete with S. aureus ECMBPs for binding to host sites. This could explain, in part, the competitive exclusion mechanism of probiotic lactobacilli [12] in colonizing and protecting the urogenital and gastrointestinal tract from infections. Although this notion is consistent with bacterial adhesion being a critical step in the development of most S. aureus infections [11], other factors produced by RC-14 may account in large part for the observed antistaphylococcal activity.” (Gan et al. 2002:1372)