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The Helicobacter heilmannii hofE and hofF Genes are Essential for Colonization of the Gastric Mucosa and Play a Role in IL ‐1β‐Induced Gastric MUC 13 Expression
Author(s) -
Cheng Liu,
Mirko Rossi,
Sara Lindén,
Medea Padra,
Caroline Blaecher,
Eva Bauwens,
Myrthe Joosten,
Bram Flahou,
Wim Van den Broeck,
Richard Ducatelle,
Freddy Haesebrouck,
Annemieke Smet
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
helicobacter
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.206
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1523-5378
pISSN - 1083-4389
DOI - 10.1111/hel.12307
Subject(s) - mucin , helicobacter pylori , helicobacter , gastric mucosa , biology , stomach , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics , biochemistry
Background Helicobacter heilmannii is a zoonotic bacterium associated with gastric disease in humans. We recently showed that H. heilmannii binds to human gastric mucins and epithelial cells and highlighted a potential role for the murine Muc13 mucin in gastric Helicobacter colonization. The aims of this study were to investigate the role of the H. heilmannii hof gene locus encoding HofH/F/E/G/C/D in adhesion to the gastric mucosa and induction of increased gastric Muc13 expression. Methods Bacterial hof gene and host gene expression experiments, Helicobacter binding assays and experimental infection studies in mice were performed. H. pylori and its Δ hofF mutant were included for comparison. Results Helicobacter heilmannii strains lacking HofE or HofF showed a clear decrease in binding to gastric mucins and epithelial cells as well as a lower gastric colonization level in the stomach of Balb/c mice at 4 and 9 weeks post‐infection compared to the H. heilmannii wildtype strain. Interestingly, H. heilmannii Δ hofE and Δ hofF and H. pylori Δ hofF did not induce an increased expression of MUC 13 in human gastric epithelial cells and of Muc13 in the stomach of mice. Finally, we demonstrated that IL ‐1β is induced in the stomach as a response to Helicobacter colonization which on its turn is involved in the expression of MUC 13/Muc13 in the gastric epithelium. Conclusion These novel results in Helicobacter research identified H. heilmannii HofE and HofF as adhesins and suggest an important role of H. heilmannii HofE and HofF and H. pylori HofF in IL ‐1β‐induced gastric MUC 13/Muc13 expression.