Reduced intracellular survival of Helicobacter pylori vacA mutants in comparison with their wild-types indicates the role of VacA in pathogenesis

Andreas Munk Petersen, Kristine Sørensen, Jens Blom, Karen Angeliki Krogfelt*

*Corresponding author for this work
31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The vacuolating cytotoxin VacA of Helicobacter pylori plays an important but yet unknown role in pathogenesis. We studied the impact of the vacuolating cytotoxin on H. pylori invasion of and survival within AGS cells (human gastric cell line derived from an antral adenocarcinoma). Isogenic vacA and cagA mutants were constructed in a wild-type clinical isolate H. pylori, AF4. An H. pylori VacA-deficient mutant, AF4(vacA::kan), was cultured in significantly lower numbers from AGS cells after 24 h incubation with gentamicin added to the culture medium than were the type I wild-type strain AF4 (P < 0.03) and an isogenic cagA mutant (P < 0.01). Complementation of the AF4 vacA mutant with broth culture supernatant from wild-type AF4 improved the intracellular survival of the vacA mutant. We conclude that H. pylori's vacuolating cytotoxin improves the intracellular survival of H. pylori within AGS cells, suggesting the role of the vacuolating cytotoxin in H. pylori pathogenesis.

Original languageEnglish
JournalFEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology
Volume30
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)103-108
Number of pages6
ISSN0928-8244
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2001

Keywords

  • Helicobacter pylori
  • Intracellular
  • VacA

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