An investigation into the association between biofilm formation and adherence/invasion of human epithelial cells by Campylobacter jejuni (360G-Wellcome-202390_Z_16_Z)

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in the world. Although the organism is highly pathogenic in humans it appears to act as a commensal in chickens where it is found in very high numbers as part of the microbiota of the chicken gut. This results in chicken meat being a major reservoir of infection for C. jejuni and recent EU studies have indicated that 97% of chicken meat in the supermarket is contaminated with C. jejuni. Several publications have highlighted biofilm formation as being an important survival mechanism for this pathogen and the O Croinin laboratory have generated unpublished data showing that strains freshly isolated from chicken meat display an increased ability to generate biofilms to survive. Given that attachment is one of the first steps in the formation of a biofilm these results could indicate that these strains are more prone to adhesion and possibly invasion of human epithelial cells which is the key virulence determinant for this important human pathogen. Tha aims of this study are thus to investigate whether a link exists between the ability of freshly isolated strains to form biofilms and their ability to attach to and invade epithelial cells.