Figure 4

SAA over-expression in cultured IEC reduces viability of co-cultured E. coli. CMT93 or HT29 cells were grown on plastic supports until confluency, in medium without antibiotics. The cells were then incubated with ~20 multiplicities of infection of AdNull or AdSAA, and 48 h later, 100 cfu E. coli were added per cell for 2 h at 37°C. A small amount of medium was removed to detect SAA expression by Western blotting (A). After the 2 h incubation, serial dilutions of the culture media were grown on LB-agar. The Y-axis shows the fraction (%) of surviving bacteria relative to the positive controls (bacteria grown in cell-free medium). Show are averages ± S.D. of triplicate wells per group of a typical experiment that was conducted three times with similar outcome. The difference between AdSAA and Adnull treated groups was statistically significant (t-test; P < 0.05).