Helicobacter pylori PqqE is a new virulence factor that cleaves junctional adhesion molecule A and disrupts gastric epithelial integrity.

ABSTRACT: Helicobacter pylori infects approximately half of the world's population and is the strongest risk factor for peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer, representing a major global health concern. H. pylori persistently colonizes the gastric epithelium, where it subverts the highly organized structures that maintain epithelial integrity. Here, a unique strategy used by H. pylori to disrupt the gastric epithelial junctional adhesion molecule-A (JAM-A) is disclosed, using various experimental models that include gastric cell lines, primary human gastric cells, and biopsy specimens of infected and non-infected individuals. H. pylori preferentially cleaves the cytoplasmic domain of JAM-A at Alanine 285. Cells stably transfected with full-length JAM-A or JAM-A lacking

SUBMITTER: Marques MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8115454 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature