Growing insights into the safety of bacteriocins: the case of enterocin S37

Very few studies have been reported on the cytotoxicity and impact of bacteriocins, and especially enterocins, upon eukaryotic cells. In order to gain more information on the safety of bacteriocins, we focused this study on enterocin S37, a bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecalis S37. We observed dose-dependent cytotoxicity toward undifferentiated Caco-2/TC7 cells. Moreover, no significant effect on differentiated monolayer Caco-2/TC7 and no apoptotic features were observed when cells were treated with 10 μg/ml of enterocin S37. The results obtained indicate possible safe use of enterocin S37 in the gastrointestinal tract of animals to prevent pathogen invasion and/or infection.