Jones Kathleen R, Whitmire Jeannette M, Merrell D Scott
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Bethesda, MD, USA.
Front Microbiol. 2010 Nov 23;1:115. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2010.00115. eCollection 2010.
Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacterium that colonizes more than 50% of the world's population, which leads to a tremendous medical burden. H. pylori infection is associated with such varied diseases as gastritis, peptic ulcers, and two forms of gastric cancer: gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. This association represents a novel paradigm for cancer development; H. pylori is currently the only bacterium to be recognized as a carcinogen. Therefore, a significant amount of research has been conducted to identify the bacterial factors and the deregulated host cell pathways that are responsible for the progression to more severe disease states. Two of the virulence factors that have been implicated in this process are cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA) and vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA), which are cytotoxins that are injected and secreted by H. pylori, respectively. Both of these virulence factors are polymorphic and affect a multitude of host cellular pathways. These combined facts could easily contribute to differences in disease severity across the population as various CagA and VacA alleles differentially target some pathways. Herein we highlight the diverse types of cellular pathways and processes targeted by these important toxins.
幽门螺杆菌是一种致病性细菌，全球超过50%的人口都受到其感染，这带来了巨大的医疗负担。幽门螺杆菌感染与多种疾病相关，如胃炎、消化性溃疡以及两种胃癌：胃腺癌和黏膜相关淋巴组织淋巴瘤。这种关联代表了癌症发展的一种新范式；幽门螺杆菌是目前唯一被确认为致癌物的细菌。因此，人们进行了大量研究，以确定导致病情发展到更严重状态的细菌因素和失调的宿主细胞途径。在此过程中涉及的两种毒力因子是细胞毒素相关基因A（CagA）和空泡毒素A（VacA），它们分别是由幽门螺杆菌注入和分泌的细胞毒素。这两种毒力因子都是多态性的，会影响多种宿主细胞途径。由于不同的CagA和VacA等位基因对某些途径有不同的靶向作用，这些综合因素很容易导致人群中疾病严重程度的差异。在此，我们重点介绍这些重要毒素所靶向的不同类型的细胞途径和过程。
