The Upregulation of TRAF1 Induced by Helicobacter pylori Plays an Antiapoptotic Effect on the Infected Cells.

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1) is a member of the TRAF family and is dysregulated in diseases, such as atheroma, lymphoma, and solid tumors, but the role of TRAF1 in gastric cancer remains unknown. This study was aimed to investigate the role of TRAF1 in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-related cell apoptosis and gastric carcinogenesis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The mRNA and protein expression levels of TRAF1 were measured in a panel of gastric cancer cell lines and in H. pylori -infected mice by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western blotting. The transcription factor that mainly affects transcription of TRAF1 during H. pylori infection was identified. The roles of H. pylori virulence factors that regulate TRAF1 expression were analyzed using isogenic cagA-, vacA-, and cagE-null mutants. The effects of TRAF1 on gastric cell viability and apoptosis during H. pylori infection were detected using the standard MTS (cell viability) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. RESULTS: H. pylori infection induced TRAF1 overexpression in both gastric epithelial cells and mice. The expression of TRAF1 in response to H. pylori infection was majorly regulated by the activation of NF-κB and was strongly related to H. pylori virulence factor CagA. The upregulation of TRAF1 inhibited cell apoptosis and increased the viability of infected cells. CONCLUSIONS: H. pylori infection induces the overexpression of TRAF1 in gastric epithelial cells. The upregulation of TRAF1 plays an antiapoptotic role in H. pylori -infected gastric cells and may contribute to the gastric carcinogenesis.

Production and cell surface display of recombinant anthrax protective antigen on the surface layer of attenuated Bacillus anthracis.

To investigate the surface display of the anthrax protective antigen (PA) on attenuated Bacillus anthracis, a recombinant B. anthracis strain, named AP429 was constructed by integrating into the chromosome a translational fusion harboring the DNA fragments encoding the cell wall-targeting domain of the S-layer protein EA1 and the anthrax PA. Crerecombinase action at the loxP sites excised the antibiotic marker. Western blot analysis, fluorescence-activated cell sorting and immunofluorescence analysis confirmed that PA was successfully expressed on the S-layer of the recombinant antibiotic marker-free strain. Notwithstanding extensive proteolytic degradation of the hybrid protein SLHs-PA, quantitative ELISA revealed that approximately 8.1 × 10(6) molecules of SLHs-PA were gained from each Bacillus cell. Moreover, electron microscopy assay indicated that the typical S-layer structures could be clearly observed from the recombinant strain micrographs.

pheS* as a counter-selectable marker for marker-free genetic manipulations in Bacillus anthracis.

Several genetic tools have been developed for use in Bacillus anthracis, but there is still a need for a more marker-free gene inactivation protocols. Thus, we report a method to generate unmarked mutations in B. anthracis. This approach was based on the counter-selectable pheS* gene with assistance by the I-SceI homing endonuclease. Using this strategy, the NprR gene, a transcriptional activator of B. anthracis, was deleted at an extremely high efficiency. Our study indicates that mutated pheS is a useful counter-selective marker to design a valuable genetic tool for in-frame and unmarked gene deletions of B. anthracis.

Helicobacter pylori inhibits the cleavage of TRAF1 via a CagA-dependent mechanism.

AIM: To study the impact on cleavage of tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1) regulated by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). METHODS: Cleavage of TRAF1 was detected by western blotting in the human gastric cancer cell line AGS following treatment with an apoptosis inducer. Cleavage of TRAF1 mediated by caspase was examined in vitro using specific caspase inhibitors. The effect of the COOH-terminal TRAF1 fragment on gastric cell apoptosis during H. pylori infection was measured using flow cytometry. The impact of H. pylori infection on TRAF1 cleavage was detected in the presence of apoptosis inducer. The roles of H. pylori virulence factors that may regulate TRAF1 cleavage were analyzed using isogenic cagA-, vacA- and cagE-null mutants. RESULTS: TRAF1 was found to be cleaved in AGS cells treated with the apoptosis inducer, and caspase-8 was the major caspase involved in the cleavage of TRAF1. The COOH-terminal TRAF1 fragment significantly induced cell apoptosis (P < 0.05) as well as promoted H. pylori-induced cell apoptosis (P < 0.05). H. pylori infection was found to significantly inhibit the cleavage of TRAF1 and to inhibit the activation of caspase-8 in the presence of the apoptosis inducer at specific infection times and different cell/bacteria ratios. We also found that the effects of cagE- and cagA-null mutants on the inhibition of TRAF1 cleavage and activation of caspase-8 were significantly attenuated, compared with wild-type H. pylori, in the presence of the apoptosis inducer, showing that the virulence factor CagA was mainly involved in the inhibition of TRAF1 cleavage. CONCLUSION: H. pylori infection significantly inhibits the cleavage of TRAF1 via a CagA-dependent mechanism, which would increase the relative amounts of full-length TRAF1 and exert an antiapoptotic effect on H. pylori-infected cells.

Antigen epitope of Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin A.

AIM: To construct and select antigen epitopes of vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) for nontoxic VacA vaccine against Helicobacter pylori (H pylori ) infection. METHODS: Eleven VacA epitopes were predicted according to VacA antigenic bioinformatics. Three candidates of VacA epitope were constructed through different combined epitopes. The candidate was linked with E. coli heat-labile enterotoxin B (LTB) by a linker of 7 amino acids, and cloned into plasmid pQE-60 in which fusion LTB-VacA epitope was efficiently expressed. To test the antigencity of the candidate, 6 BALB/c mice were treated with the fusion LTB-VacA epitope through intraperitoneal injection. To explore the ability of inhibiting the toxicity of VacA,cantiserum against the candidate was used to counteract VacA that induced HeLa cells to produce cell vacuoles in vitro. RESULTS: Serum IgG against the candidate was induced in the BALB/c mice. In vitro, the three antisera against the candidate efficiently counteracted the toxicity of VacA, and decreased the number of cell vacuoles by 14.17%, 20.20% and 30.41% respectively. CONCLUSION: Two of the three candidates, LZ-VacA1and LZ-VacA2, can be used to further study the mechanism of vacuolating toxicity of VacA, and to construct nontoxic VacA vaccine against H pylori infection.

Association of NOD1 and NOD2 genes polymorphisms with Helicobacter pylori related gastric cancer in a Chinese population.

AIM: To investigate the association between the tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (TagSNPs) of NOD1 and NOD2 and the risk of developing gastric cancer. METHODS: We conducted a hospital-based case-control study including 296 incident gastric cancer patients and 160 gastritis controls. Eight TagSNPs in the NOD1 and NOD2 genes were selected from the Hapmap database using the haploview software and genotyped by the Sequenom MassArray system. The serum levels of anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) IgG were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to indicate H. pylori infection. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression, including sex and age as confounding factors. RESULTS: The NOD1 rs2907749 GG genotype showed a decreased risk for gastric cancer (OR 0.50, 95% CI: 0.26-0.95, P = 0.04) while the rs7789045 TT genotype showed an increased risk (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.20-3.82, P = 0.01). An elevated susceptibility to gastric cancer was observed in the subjects with H. pylori infection and the NaOD1 rs7789045 TT genotype (OR 2.05, 95% CI: 1.07-3.94, P = 0.03) or the NOD2 rs7205423 GC genotype (OR 2.52, 95% CI: 1.05-6.04, P = 0.04). Haplotype analysis suggested that the distribution of AGT (rs2907749, rs2075820 and rs7789045) in NOD1 between the cases and control groups was significantly different (P corrected: 0.04), and the diplotype AGT/AGT was associated with an elevated gastric cancer risk (OR 1.98, 95% CI: 1.04-3.79, P = 0.04). The association of the NOD1 rs7789045 TT genotype and the diplotype AGT/AGT was significant with H. pylori-related diffuse-type gastric cancer (OR 3.00, 95% CI: 1.38-6.53, P = 0.01; OR 4.02, 95% CI: 1.61-10.05, P < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: Genetic polymorphisms in NOD1 and NOD2 may interact with H. pylori infection and may play important roles in promoting the development of gastric cancer in the Chinese population.

Identification of B-cell epitopes in urease B subunit of Helicobacter pylori bound by neutralizing antibodies.

To identify linear B-cell epitopes of urease B (UreB), a series of 19 partially overlapping fragments of the UreB gene were expressed. Three MAbs against UreB of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), A1H10, A3C10, and B3D9, were tested for their reactivity to the truncated proteins by Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Three linear B-cell epitopes were identified covering a stretch of 15 amino acid (aa) residues and localized in the aa regions 158-172, 181-195, and 349-363 of UreB. ELISA also showed that the three synthetic peptides containing epitope sequences (UP32: GGGTGPADGTNATTI, UP35: WMLRAAEEYSMNLGF, and UP38: TLHDMGIFSITSSDS) were recognized by the corresponding MAbs and H. pylori positive sera from H. pylori infected patients. Mice immunized with glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion peptides showed that epitope-specific antibodies were capable of inhibiting urease enzymatic activity. These results should be useful in clinical applications and highlight the potential importance of these epitopes as the targets for development of epitope-based vaccines against H. pylori.

Removal of antibiotic resistance of live vaccine strain Escherichia coli MM-3 and evaluation of the immunogenicity of the new strain.

MM-3 was a live vaccine strain candidate for protecting neonatal piglets from diarrhea. Designed in the 1980s, a high degree of protection from colibacillosis was afforded to piglets in a challenge study and field trials. However MM-3 had a drawback of carrying the antibiotic resistance gene (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene, cat). The introduction of a host-plasmid balanced lethal system into the vaccine was a good idea to solve the problem. The lambda-Red recombination system was adopted in this study to realize the replacement of cat by aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase gene (asd) in the plasmid pMM085. The new plasmid named pMMASD was introduced into an Escherichia coli strain chi6097 and Salmonella typhimurium chi4072 where the asd gene had been knocked out in their chromosomes. Cultured in an Erlenmeyer flask, expression levels of two antigens K88ac fimbriae and heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit (LTB) in cell lysate were similar among MM-3, chi4072(pMMASD) and chi6097(pMMASD). However, chi4072(pMMASD) possessed the more effective secretion mechanism to transport LTB enterotoxin into culture liquid. The relatively higher stability of pMMASD in Salmonella typhimurium chi4072 than that of pMM085 in MM-3 was determined both in vitro in the absence of selective pressure, and in vivo following oral inoculation. Oral immunization of BALB/c mice with chi4072(pMMASD) or chi6097(pMMASD) was sufficient to elicit IgA responses in mucosal tissues as well as systemic IgG antibody responses to the K88 fimbriae, while MM-3 failed to elicit specific antibody responses to K88 fimbriae in mucosal tissues. Among three live strains, only chi4072(pMMASD) could develop strong humoral responses against LTB enterotoxin. The results suggest that chi4072(pMMASD) is expected to be a promising live vaccine strain.