TABLE 3.

Adhesins and virulence-associated proteins of H. pylori

Protein/gene cluster	Predicted role	Association with H. pylori-related disease	Reference(s)
BabA	Binds to fucosylated Leb blood group antigen on cells	babA2 allele has been implicated in peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer	63, 221, 246, 285, 511, 516, 702, 703
SabA	Binds to sialyl-Lex and sialyl-Lea antigens and is involved in activation of neutrophils	None	117, 387, 639
SabB	Binding specificity is unknown	Absence of SabB expression via phase variation is associated with duodenal ulcers	117
OipA	OipA has been reported to assist in IL-8 induction, but this association is not universal	Expression of OipA is linked to cag status and development of duodenal ulcers and gastric cancer	16, 17, 246, 330, 705, 706
AlpA and AlpB	Inactivation of the alpA and alpB genes results in decreased adherence to gastric epithelial cells and absence of colonization in a guinea pig model	Unknown	114, 467, 470
HP-NAP	HP-NAP is reported to activate neutrophils and is a possible adhesin to mucin; possible function in protection of H. pylori DNA or iron storage	Unknown	172, 438, 439, 452, 631
Plasticity region (jhp0947-jhp0950)	Unknown	Presence of the plasticity region is associated with development of gastric cancer, MALT lymphoma, and duodenal ulcers	84, 115, 462, 463, 545
IceA	The iceA1 allele encodes a CATG-recognizing restriction endonuclease	IceA1 has been associated with peptic ulcer disease, but this association is not universal	129, 185, 313, 495, 648, 700, 704
DupA	The dupA gene encodes a VirB4 ATPase homolog	Associated with duodenal ulcers but also with reduced risk for gastric atrophy and cancer	376