Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease in vulnerable individuals, through the consumption of contaminated food. Vaccination strategies against Listeria are unavailable, primarily due to the lack of knowledge of immunodominant vector antigens.
A new mechanism has been discovered by which cells infected with the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes are able to escape the immune response, and which at the same time confers a higher probability that infected cells will adhere to and infect cerebral vessels and cross the blood-brain barrier.
