幽门螺杆菌cag PAI编码的Ⅳ型分泌系统

The type Ⅳ secretion system encoded by the cag PAI of Helicobacter pylori

摘要:

幽门螺杆菌(Helicobacter pylori,H.pylori)是定植于人胃部特定的病原菌,感染呈全球分布,感染率高达50%以上。现已证实它是轻度胃炎,消化性溃疡及胃癌的主要病因。Ⅰ型H.pylori菌株含有一个约40kb的特殊基因片段,即cag致病岛(cytotoxin associated gene pathogenicity island,cag PAI),该片段只出现于致病相关菌株,基因呈高密度分布并编码一个分泌转运系统称为Ⅳ型分泌系统(type Ⅳ secretion system,TFSS),通过转运相关毒素而参与H.pylori诱导上皮细胞细胞内的酪氨酸磷酸化、细胞骨架重排、基垫结构形成、活化核转录因子NF-κB、诱导促炎细胞因子白细胞介素-8的表达等,故在H.pylori的致病中起着关键作用。近年来,研究者们致力于研究Ⅳ型分泌系统的功能,但是对于这个装置是如何转运蛋白进入宿主细胞的确切机制还是知之甚少,因此,对Ⅳ型分泌系统的研究将有助于进一步明确H.pylori致病机制,并为临床诊断和治疗提供新的靶点。

Abstract:

Helicobacter pylori is a human-specific gastric pathogen that colonizes over half the worlds population. Infection with this bacterium is associated with a spectrum of gastric pathologies ranging from mild gastritis to peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. A strong predictor of severe disease outcome is infection with a bacterial strain harbouring the cag (cytotoxin associated gene) pathogenicity island (PAI), a 40 kb stretch of DNA that encodes homologues of several components of a type Ⅳ secretion system (TFSS). One gene within the cag PAI,cagA, has been shown to encode a substrate for the TFSS which is translocated into host cells,inducing the dephosphrylation of host cell proteins and leading to changes in the morphology or shape of AGS gastric epithelial cells. Furthermore, the TFSS is involved in the induction of proinflammatory cytokines. It appeears to play a key role in H. pylori pathogenesis. Very little is known about the H. pylori cag PAI-encoded TFSS, the expression of Cag proteins in H. pylori, and the functions of individual proteins encoded by the cag PAI. Only by exploring the mechanistic details of the interplay between H. pylori and eukaryotic cells can we endeavour to understand how these cellular interactions play out at the tissue and organismal level during the lifelong coexistence of bacterium and host.