GA 2018

The initial step of urinary tract infections (UTIs), frequently caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), is the adhesion of bacteria to urothelial cells. Extracts from Cranberry fruits (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) have long been associated with the prevention of UTIs. Within ex vivo experiments in two studies, a time-dependent, significant inhibition of bacterial adhesion of UPEC NU14 and UTI89 to human T24 bladder cells was achieved using urine from 20 volunteers after consumption of standardized cranberry extract (CE). This effect was independent of urine pH. To investigate the effect of the Cranberry metabolites on UPEC transcriptome analysis of UTI89 by Next Generation Sequencing was performed. The transcriptome of bacteria grown in urine collected after 7 days of cranberry intake indicated no relevant differences compared to that obtained from bacteria grown in control urine. To elucidate whether the antiadhesive activity of the urine after CE ingestion is based on a direct interaction with bacterial type 1 adhesins (FimH), in vitro FimH assay was performed by recombinantly expressed FimH-lectin domain. The tests showed that the urine after CE consumption inhibits FimH more strongly than the control urine. LC-MS/MS study of the urine was performed to correlate Cranberry-related metabolites with the antiadhesive effects via multivariate data analysis. In order to be able to examine urine by LC-MS / MS, it was pretreated by solid-phase extraction (SPE). The correlation of the investigated SPE eluates with the biological data indicated substances that could not be identified as cranberry-associated metabolites. Currently, the investigation of the preliminary eluates is in progress.