The involvement of Streptococcus bovis, an member of the human gut flora, in colorectal neoplastic diseases is an object of controversy. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of S.bovis and of antigens extracted from the bacterial cell wall on early preneoplastic changes in the intestinal tract. Adult rats received i. p. injections of azoxymethane (15 mg/kg body weight) once per week for 2 weeks. Fifteen days (week 4) after the last injection of the carcinogen, the rats received, by gavage twice per week during 5 weeks, either S.bovis (10(10) bacteria) or wall-extracted antigens (100 microg). One week after the last gavage (week 10), we found that administration of either S.bovis or of antigens from this bacterium promoted the progression of preneoplastic lesions through the increased formation of hyperproliferative aberrant colonic crypts, enhanced the expression of proliferation markers and increased the production of IL-8 in the colonic mucosa. Our study suggests that S.bovis acts as a promoter of early preneoplastic lesions in the colon of rats. The fact that bacterial wall proteins are more potent inducers of neoplastic transformation than the intact bacteria may have important implications in colon cancer prevention.

In this study we localized more precisely the salivary glycoprotein-interacting and the human immunoglobulin G (hIgG)-cross-reacting domains on the SR molecule, an antigen I/Il-related protein from S. mutans serotype f. Mapping of the SR molecule with polypeptides expressed by subclones covering the entire molecule and with synthetic peptides demonstrates that the salivary glycoprotein-binding domain is located in the N-terminal alanine-rich repeats of the SR molecule. In order to investigate the degree of conservation of both regions in various oral streptococci, we tested the reactivity of 8 representative strains of the mutans group and 11 nonmutans oral Streptococcus strains (S. anginosus, S. milleri, S. consteUlatus, S. intermedius, S. mitis, S. sanguis, S. gordonii, S. salivarius, and S. mitis strains) with antipeptide antibodies in a whole-cell enzyme linked immunosorbent assay together with colony hybridization analysis using DNA probes designed to map these two regions. All the mutans group strains except S. rattus and the 11 nonmutans streptococcal strains showed a high conservation of the C-terminal part of the SR molecule, especially the hIgG-cross-reacting domain, and less homology for the N-terminal salivary glycoprotein-binding region. Almost all of the sera from patients with rheumatic disease reacted strongly with SR from S. mutans serotype f, PI from S. mutans serotype c, and four peptides located in the hIgG-cross-reacting region and not with peptides located at the C and N termini and in the proline-rich repeats. These results confirm that epitopes located within this region are immunogenic in humans and could lead to the synthesis of natural anti-IgG antibodies.

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To examine the possible implication of protein SR, an VII-related antigen from Streptococcus mutans OMZ 175 (serotype f), in inflammatory reactions, we tested the immunomodulatory effects of protein SR on human monocytes. Using biotinylated protein, we provide evidence that protein SR binds to human monocytes in dose-, time-, and calcium-dependent manners through specific interactions. These results were confirmed by competition experiments using either soluble human monocyte extract or anti-SR immunoglobulin G. Binding occurred through lectin-like interactions between SR and carbohydrate portions of monocyte membrane glycoproteins, since binding could be inhibited by several sugars, especially fucose and N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA), which were confirmed by ligand blotting to be the primer ligands recognized by SR on human monocyte extracts. The ability of protein SR to stimulate the production of cytokines by human circulating monocytes was then examined. The release of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), interleukin 1p, and interleukin 6 is time and dose dependent and not affected by the addition of polymyxin B. Activation of monocytes resulted from specific binding of SR to NANA and fucose present on cell surface glycoproteins since TNF-a release could be inhibited by sialidase and pronase treatment of monocytes and by NANA and fucose. These results confirm that sialic acid and fucose present on cell surface macromolecules and especially glycoproteins are needed for the binding of SR to monocytes and for the release of TNF-a.