Savory, Oregano and Thyme Essential Oil Mixture (HerbELICO®) Counteracts Helicobacter pylori.

Fifty percent of the world's population is infected with Helicobacter pylori, which can trigger many gastrointestinal disorders. H. pylori eradication therapy consists of two to three antimicrobial medicinal products, but they exhibit limited efficacy and may cause adverse side effects. Alternative therapies are urgent. It was assumed that an essential oil mixture, obtained from species from genera Satureja L., Origanum L. and Thymus L. and called the HerbELICO® essential oil mixture, could be useful in H. pylori infection treatment. HerbELICO® was analyzed by GC-MS and assessed in vitro against twenty H. pylori clinical strains isolated from patients of different geographical origins and with different antimicrobial medicinal products resistance profiles, and for its ability to penetrate the artificial mucin barrier. A customer case study included 15 users of HerbELICO®liquid/HerbELICO®solid dietary supplements (capsulated HerbELICO® mixture in liquid/solid form). Carvacrol and thymol were the most dominant compounds (47.44% and 11.62%, respectively), together with p-cymene (13.35%) and γ-terpinene (18.20%). The minimum concentration required to inhibit in vitro H. pylori growth by HerbELICO® was 4-5% (v/v); 10 min exposure to HerbELICO® was enough to kill off the examined H. pylori strains, while HerbELICO® was able to penetrate through mucin. A high eradication rate (up to 90%) and acceptance by consumers was observed.

Comparative Transcriptomic and Molecular Pathway Analyses of HL-CZ Human Pro-Monocytic Cells Expressing SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1, S2, NP, NSP15 and NSP16 Genes.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a clear and present threat to global public health. Research into how the causative SARS-CoV-2 virus together with its individual constituent genes and proteins interact with target host cells can facilitate the development of improved strategies to manage the acute and long-term complications of COVID-19. In this study, to better understand the biological roles of critical SARS-CoV-2 proteins, we determined and compared the host transcriptomic responses of the HL-CZ human pro-monocytic cell line upon transfection with key viral genes encoding the spike S1 subunit, S2 subunit, nucleocapsid protein (NP), NSP15 (endoribonuclease), and NSP16 (2'-O-ribose-methyltransferase). RNA sequencing followed by gene set enrichment analysis and other bioinformatics tools revealed that host genes associated with topologically incorrect protein, virus receptor activity, heat shock protein binding, endoplasmic reticulum stress, antigen processing and presentation were up-regulated in the presence of viral spike S1 expression. With spike S2 expression, pro-monocytic genes associated with the interferon-gamma-mediated signaling pathway, regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity, adipocytokine signaling pathway, and insulin signaling pathway were down-regulated, whereas those associated with cytokine-mediated signaling were up-regulated. The expression of NSP15 induced the up-regulation of genes associated with neutrophil degranulation, neutrophil-mediated immunity, oxidative phosphorylation, prion disease, and pathways of neurodegeneration. The expression of NSP16 resulted in the down-regulation of genes associated with S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase activity. The expression of NP down-regulated genes associated with positive regulation of neurogenesis, nervous system development, and heart development. Taken together, the complex transcriptomic alterations arising from these viral-host gene interactions offer useful insights into host genes and their pathways that potentially contribute to SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis.

Prevalence and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection among children in Kuichong Subdistrict of Shenzhen City, China.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori infection is a significant burden to the public health in China as it can lead to various gastric diseases including peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. Since most infections occurred during childhood, it is therefore necessary to understand the prevalence and risk determinants of this bacterial infection in children. Herewith, we conducted a cross-sectional study in the Kuichong Subdistrict of Shenzhen City to assess the prevalence and risk factors of H. pylori infection among children. METHODS: From September 2018 to October 2018, 1,355 children aged 6-12 years from four primary schools in the Kuichong Subdistrict of Shenzhen City were recruited. These children were screened for H. pylori infection using the 13C-urea breath test. In addition, parents were requested to fill out a standardized questionnaire. The chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors for H. pylori. RESULTS: Among 1,355 children recruited in this study, 226 (16.7%; 95% CI [14.7-18.7]) were positive of H. pylori infection. Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified six factors significantly associated with H. pylori infection children including parent(s) with tertiary education level (OR: 0.64; 95% CI [0.46-0.89]), testing bottle feed temperature using the mouth (OR: 1.79; 95% CI [1.19-2.68]), sharing of cutlery between the feeding person and young children during meals (OR: 1.84; 95% CI [1.22-2.78]), eating fruit after peeling (OR: 2.56; 95% CI [1.4-4.71]), frequent dining out (OR: 3.13; 95% CI [1.46-6.68]) and snacking (OR: 1.43; 95% CI [1.01-2.01]). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, better educated parent(s) played a protective role against the acquisition of H. pylori infection in children. Testing bottle feed temperature using the mouth, cutlery sharing between the feeding person and young children, and snacking posed a lower but significant risk for H. pylori infection. Only eating peeled fruits and frequent dining out were associated with greater infection risks.

The complete genome and methylome of Helicobacter pylori hpNEAfrica strain HP14039.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative bacterium which mainly causes peptic ulcer disease in human, but is also the predominant cause of stomach cancer. It has been coevolving with human since 120,000 years and, according to Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), H. pylori can be classified into seven major population types, namely, hpAfrica1, hpAfrica2, hpNEAfrica, hpEastAsia, hpAsia2, hpEurope and hpSahul. Helicobacter pylori harbours a large number of restriction-modification (R-M) systems. The methyltransferase (MTase) unit plays a significant role in gene regulation and also possibly modulates pathogenicity. The diversity in MTase can act as geomarkers to correlate strains with the phylogeographic origins. This paper describes the complete genome sequence and methylome of gastric pathogen H. pylori belonging to the population hpNEAfrica. RESULTS: In this paper, we present the complete genome sequence and the methylome profile of H. pylori hpNEAfrica strain HP14039, isolated from a patient who was born in Somalia and likely to be infected locally during early childhood prior to migration. The genome of HP14039 consists of 1,678,260 bp with 1574 coding genes and 38.7% GC content. The sequence analysis showed that this strain lacks the cag pathogenicity island. The vacA gene is of S2M2 type. We have also identified 15 methylation motifs, including WCANHNNNNTG and CTANNNNNNNTAYG that were not previously described. CONCLUSIONS: We have described the complete genome of H. pylori strain HP14039. The information regarding phylo-geography, methylome and associated metadata would help scientific community to study more about hpNEAfrica population type.

Metabolomics and 16S rRNA sequencing of human colorectal cancers and adjacent mucosa.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is ranked the third most common cancer in human worldwide. However, the exact mechanisms of CRC are not well established. Furthermore, there may be differences between mechanisms of CRC in the Asian and in the Western populations. In the present study, we utilized a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) metabolomic approach supported by the 16S rRNA next-generation sequencing to investigate the functional and taxonomical differences between paired tumor and unaffected (normal) surgical biopsy tissues from 17 Malaysian patients. Metabolomic differences associated with steroid biosynthesis, terpenoid biosynthesis and bile metabolism could be attributed to microbiome differences between normal and tumor sites. The relative abundances of Anaerotruncus, Intestinimonas and Oscillibacter displayed significant relationships with both steroid biosynthesis and terpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis pathways. Metabolites involved in serotonergic synapse/ tryptophan metabolism (Serotonin and 5-Hydroxy-3-indoleacetic acid [5-HIAA]) were only detected in normal tissue samples. On the other hand, S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH), a metabolite involves in methionine metabolism and methylation, was frequently increased in tumor relative to normal tissues. In conclusion, this study suggests that local microbiome dysbiosis may contribute to functional changes at the cancer sites. Results from the current study also contributed to the list of metabolites that are found to differ between normal and tumor sites in CRC and supported our quest for understanding the mechanisms of carcinogenesis.

Draft Genome Sequences of 42 Helicobacter pylori Isolates from Rural Regions of South India.

Helicobacter pylori is a successful human gastric pathogen that is associated with the development of gastric cancer. The draft genome sequences of 42 H. pylori clinical strains isolated from South Indian rural populations will provide further insights into the evolution and genetic makeup of Indian H. pylori strains.

Helicobacter pylori gene silencing in vivo demonstrates urease is essential for chronic infection.

Helicobacter pylori infection causes chronic active gastritis that after many years of infection can develop into peptic ulceration or gastric adenocarcinoma. The bacterium is highly adapted to surviving in the gastric environment and a key adaptation is the virulence factor urease. Although widely postulated, the requirement of urease expression for persistent infection has not been elucidated experimentally as conventional urease knockout mutants are incapable of colonization. To overcome this constraint, conditional H. pylori urease mutants were constructed by adapting the tetracycline inducible expression system that enabled changing the urease phenotype of the bacteria during established infection. Through tight regulation we demonstrate that urease expression is not only required for establishing initial colonization but also for maintaining chronic infection. Furthermore, successful isolation of tet-escape mutants from a late infection time point revealed the strong selective pressure on this gastric pathogen to continuously express urease in order to maintain chronic infection. In addition to mutations in the conditional gene expression system, escape mutants were found to harbor changes in other genes including the alternative RNA polymerase sigma factor, fliA, highlighting the genetic plasticity of H. pylori to adapt to a changing niche. The tet-system described here opens up opportunities to studying genes involved in the chronic stage of H. pylori infection to gain insight into bacterial mechanisms promoting immune escape and life-long infection. Furthermore, this genetic tool also allows for a new avenue of inquiry into understanding the importance of various virulence determinants in a changing biological environment when the bacterium is put under duress.

Draft genome sequences of Helicobacter pylori isolates from Malaysia, cultured from patients with functional dyspepsia and gastric cancer.

Helicobacter pylori is the main bacterial causative agent of gastroduodenal disorders and a risk factor for gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. The draft genomes of 10 closely related H. pylori isolates from the multiracial Malaysian population will provide an insight into the genetic diversity of isolates in Southeast Asia. These isolates were cultured from gastric biopsy samples from patients with functional dyspepsia and gastric cancer. The availability of this genomic information will provide an opportunity for examining the evolution and population structure of H. pylori isolates from Southeast Asia, where the East meets the West.