Campylobacter jejuni-infected human epithelial cell lines vary in their ability to secrete interleukin-8 compared to in vitro-infected primary human intestinal tissue.

Campylobacter jejuni causes symptoms of acute inflammatory diarrhoea in man. C. jejuni interaction with epithelial cells elicits interleukin-8 (IL-8) production, and IL-8 recruits neutrophils to sites of infection. Cell culture models of bacterial interaction with epithelium are useful to define bacteria-host interaction and are used because it is thought they mimic the same bacteria-host cell interaction in the natural disease. This study looks at the ability of C. jejuni strains to elicit IL-8 production from a variety of cell lines previously used for investigating the interaction of C. jejuni with host cells. A spectrum of IL-8 responses was observed, with minimal IL-8 elicited from Caco-2 cells and more marked responses elicited from HeLa and T84 cells. These in vitro-infected cell line responses were compared to IL-8 production from in vitro C. jejuni-infected human colonic and ileal tissue. The in vitro-infected tissue elicited the highest IL-8 responses and the cytokine was manifested earlier compared to the infected cell lines.