Work

Canine epidermal growth factor-expressing Lactococcus lactis promotes intestinal injury repair and alleviates diarrhea in canine

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Canine diarrhea with long course and a certain mortality rate depends mainly on supportive treatment. Oral recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF) can stimulate intestinal development and reduce diarrhea incidence in human and other animals, but few related studies have been done in canine. RESULTS: Here, we firstly constructed a recombinant lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) expressing bioactive canine EGF (cEGF), and then explored its effect on cell proliferation, intestinal injury repair and inflammatory factor secretion in diarrheal mice and canines. The results showed that cEGF promoted the proliferation of CMT-1211 cells, that cEGF-expressing L. lactis strain recovered the damaged mucous structure and suppressed the inflammatory response, potentially by activating EGF receptor and its downstream AKT and ERK1/2 signals, thereby alleviating diarrhea in mice and canine. CONCLUSIONS: We first generated a cEGF-expressing L. lactis strain and demonstrated its potential to repair intestinal injury and alleviate diarrhea in mice and canines, and thus cEGF-expressing L. lactis could be a new therapy strategy for animal diarrhea.

Source: BMC Veterinary Research

DOI: 10.1186/s12917-026-05297-y