Lactobacilli inhibit interleukin-8 production induced by Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide-activated Toll-like receptor 4

AIM: To investigate the effect of Lactobacillus bulgaricus (LBG) on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) pathway and interleukin-8 (IL-8) production in SGC-7901 cells treated with Helicobacter pyloriSydney strain 1 lipopolysaccharide (H pyloriSS1-LPS).METHODS: SGC-7901 cells were treated with H pyIoriSS1-LPS in the presence or absence of pretreatment for 1 h with viable LBG or supematant recovered from LBG culture MRS broth (LBG-s). Cellular lysates were prepared for Western blot with anti-TLR4,anti-transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1), anti-phospho-TAK1, anti-nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), anti-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK), and anti-phospho-p38MAPK antibodies.The amount of IL-8 in cell culture medium was measured by ELISA.RESULTS: H pyloriSS1-LPS up-regulated the expression of TLR4, stimulated the phosphorylation of TAK1, subsequently enhanced the activation of NFκB and the phosphorylation of p38MAPK in a timedependent manner, leading to augmentation of IL-8 production in SGC-7901 cells. Viable LBG or LBG-s pretreatment attenuated the expression of TLR4,inhibited the phosphorylation of TAK1 and p38MAPK,prevented the activation of NF-κB, and consequently blocked IL-8 production.CONCLUSION: H pyloriSS1-LPS induces IL-8production through activating TLR4 signaling in SGC-7901 cells and viable LBG or LBG-s prevents H pyloriSS1-LPS-mediated IL-8 production via inhibition of the TLR4 pathway.