Attenuated CagA oncoprotein in Helicobacter pylori from Amerindians in Peruvian Amazon.

ABSTRACT: Population genetic analyses of bacterial genes whose products interact with host tissues can give new understanding of infection and disease processes. Here we show that strains of the genetically diverse gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori from Amerindians from the remote Peruvian Amazon contain novel alleles of cagA, a major virulence gene, and reveal distinctive properties of their encoded CagA proteins. CagA is injected into the gastric epithelium where it hijacks pleiotropic signaling pathways, helps Hp exploit its special gastric mucosal niche, and affects the risk that infection will result in overt gastroduodenal diseases including gastric cancer. The Amerindian CagA proteins contain unusual but functional tyrosine phosphorylation motifs and attenuated CRPIA motifs, which affect g

SUBMITTER: Suzuki M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3191037 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature