title: Functional variability of cagA gene in Japanese isolates of Helicobacter pylori.
abstract: CagA protein of Helicobacter pylori is injected into the epithelium, where CagA undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation and activates proliferation signals. However, the importance of these CagA activities for pathogenesis has yet to be resolved. The aim of this study is to analyze the genetic and functional variability of cagA gene of clinical strains in relation to gastric diseases. Thirty-six H. pylori strains were isolated from Japanese patients with various gastric diseases and examined. All 36 strains were found to contain cagA and cagE gene and to induce CagA phosphorylation upon infection. The intensity of CagA phosphorylation expressed in HeLa cells by transfection was highly correlated to the number of R1 region. The phosphorylation intensity was slightly higher in strains from chronic atrophic gastritis (CG); however, the differences were not statistically significant. These CagA proteins also activated the serum response element (SRE) reporter by 5- to 14-fold, above the level of the control. CagA proteins which lack R2 or R3 region exhibited smaller ability for SRE activation. The average of SRE activation was slightly higher in strains from cases of gastric cancer (GC; 11.4+/-1.6), MALT lymphoma (ML; 10.7+/-1.0), and chronic atrophic gastritis (CG; 11.2+/-1.6) than in those of duodenal ulcer (DU; 8.3+/-1.9) or gastric ulcer (GU; 9.0+/-1.1). In summary, most Japanese H. pylori strains contained CagA transport system and induced CagA phosphorylation, and the levels of the intensity of phosphorylation and the ability to induce SRE varied among strains. Although the association between CagA activities and disease outcome shown in this study is not very strong, variety of CagA structure, which induces variable activities, may be one of the reasons why H. pylori induces distinct diseases on host.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan. HIRATAY-INT@h.u-tokyo.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mitsuno
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogura
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawabe
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Omata
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016481:Helicobacter Infections; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010766:Phosphorylation; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C080866:cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori