The Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin: from cellular vacuolation to immunosuppressive activities |
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Authors: | B Gebert W Fischer and R Haas |
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Institution: | (1) Max von Pettenkofer Institut für Hygiene und Medizinische Mikrobiologie, LMU München Pettenkoferstr. 9A, 80336 München, Germany |
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Abstract: | Helicobacter pylori is a highly successful bacterial pathogen of humans, infecting the stomach of more than half of the world s population. The H. pylori infection results in chronic gastritis, eventually followed by peptic ulceration and, more rarely, gastric cancer. H. pylori has developed a unique set of virulence factors, actively supporting its survival in the special ecological niche of the human stomach. Vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) and cytotoxin-associated antigen A (CagA) are two major bacterial virulence factors involved in host cell modulation. VacA, so far mainly regarded as a cytotoxin of the gastric epithelial cell layer, now turns out to be a potent immunomodulatory toxin, targeting the adapted immune system. Thus, in addition to the well-known vacuolating activity, VacA has been reported to induce apoptosis in epithelial cells, to affect B lymphocyte antigen presentation, to inhibit the activation and proliferation of T lymphocytes, and to modulate the T cell-mediated cytokine response. |
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