Plantaricin A, a peptide pheromone produced by Lactobacillus plantarum, permeabilizes the cell membrane of both normal and cancerous lymphocytes and neuronal cells

Antimicrobial peptides produced by multicellular organisms protect against pathogenic microorganisms, whereas such peptides produced by bacteria provide an ecological advantage over competitors. Certain antimicrobial peptides of metazoan origin are also toxic to eukaryotic cells, with preference for a variety of cancerous cells. Plantaricin A (PlnA) is a peptide pheromone with membrane permeabilizing strain-specific antibacterial activity, produced by Lactobacillus plantarum C11. Recently, we have reported that PlnA also permeabilizes cancerous rat pituitary cells (GH 4 cells), whereas normal rat anterior pituitary cells are resistant. To investigate if preferential effect on cancerous cells is a general feature of PlnA, we have studied effects of the peptide on normal and cancerous lymphocytes and neuronal cells. Normal human B and T cells, Reh cells (from human B cell leukemia), and Jurkat cells (from human T cell leukemia) were studied by flow cytometry to detect morphological changes (scatter) and viability (propidium iodide uptake), and by patch clamp recordings to monitor membrane conductance. Ca 2+ imaging based on a combination of fluo-4 and fura-red was used to monitor PlnA-induced membrane permeabilization in normal rat cortical neurons and glial cells, PC12 cells (from a rat adrenal chromaffin tumor), and murine N2A cells (from a spinal cord tumor). All the tested cell types were affected by 10–100 μM PlnA, whereas concentrations below 10 μM had no significant effect. We conclude that normal and cancerous lymphocytes and neuronal cells show similar sensitivity to PlnA.