Vacuolating cytotoxin of Helicobacter pylori plays a role during colonization in a mouse model of infection.

ABSTRACT: Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of gastritis and ulcer disease in humans, secretes a toxin called VacA (vacuolating cytotoxin) into culture supernatants. VacA was initially characterized and purified on the basis of its ability to induce the formation of intracellular vacuoles in tissue culture cells. H. pylori strains possessing different alleles of vacA differ in their ability to express active toxin. Those strains expressing higher toxin levels are correlated with more severe gastric disease. However, the specific role(s) played by VacA during the course of infection and disease is not clear. We have used a mouse model of H. pylori infection to begin to address this role. A null mutation of vacA compromises H. pylori in its ability to initially establish infection. If an infect

SUBMITTER: Salama NR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC97945 | biostudies-literature | 2001 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature