Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology
. 1997 Sep;4(5):592–597. doi: 10.1128/cdli.4.5.592-597.1997

Antigenic characterization of Helicobacter pylori strains from different parts of the world.

J Höök-Nikanne 1, G I Perez-Perez 1, M J Blaser 1
PMCID: PMC170603  PMID: 9302211

Abstract

Although Helicobacter pylori is considered to be relatively homogeneous at the phenotypic level, our aim was to describe its antigenic heterogeneity and to examine differences in host response. Whole-cell lysates of H. pylori strains originally isolated from persons from Africa, the People's Republic of China, Japan, Peru, Thailand, or the United States or from monkeys were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Immunoblots were performed by using sera from H. pylori-infected persons from different areas of the world and rabbit immune sera against H. pylori antigens. Specific H. pylori antibody responses in persons from the United States and the People's Republic of China were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with antigens prepared from U.S. or Chinese strains. Despite diverse origins, the strains showed conserved major bands of 84, 60, 56, 31, and 25 kDa. Although there were clear differences in minor bands, there was no obvious geographic pattern. The anti-CagA serum recognized 120- to 140-kDa bands in cagA+ strains from around the world. Although antigenic preparations from individual U.S. or Chinese strains were not optimally sensitive for serologic detection of infection in the heterologous country, use of pools of strains largely overcame this phenomenon. We conclude that conserved H. pylori antigens exist and are recognized by sera from persons from many parts of the world. The heterogeneity of H. pylori antigens and the serological responses of infected hosts is not fully explained by geographic differences. Use of pools may allow development of antigens for serologic testing in any country.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (2.7 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Appelmelk B. J., Simoons-Smit I., Negrini R., Moran A. P., Aspinall G. O., Forte J. G., De Vries T., Quan H., Verboom T., Maaskant J. J. Potential role of molecular mimicry between Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide and host Lewis blood group antigens in autoimmunity. Infect Immun. 1996 Jun;64(6):2031–2040. doi: 10.1128/iai.64.6.2031-2040.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Atherton J. C., Peek R. M., Jr, Tham K. T., Cover T. L., Blaser M. J. Clinical and pathological importance of heterogeneity in vacA, the vacuolating cytotoxin gene of Helicobacter pylori. Gastroenterology. 1997 Jan;112(1):92–99. doi: 10.1016/s0016-5085(97)70223-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Blaser M. J., Hopkins J. A., Berka R. M., Vasil M. L., Wang W. L. Identification and characterization of Campylobacter jejuni outer membrane proteins. Infect Immun. 1983 Oct;42(1):276–284. doi: 10.1128/iai.42.1.276-284.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blaser M. J., Perez-Perez G. I., Kleanthous H., Cover T. L., Peek R. M., Chyou P. H., Stemmermann G. N., Nomura A. Infection with Helicobacter pylori strains possessing cagA is associated with an increased risk of developing adenocarcinoma of the stomach. Cancer Res. 1995 May 15;55(10):2111–2115. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bodhidatta L., Hoge C. W., Churnratanakul S., Nirdnoy W., Sampathanukul P., Tungtaem C., Raktham S., Smith C. D., Echeverria P. Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in a developing country: comparison of two ELISAs and a seroprevalence study. J Infect Dis. 1993 Dec;168(6):1549–1553. doi: 10.1093/infdis/168.6.1549. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Covacci A., Censini S., Bugnoli M., Petracca R., Burroni D., Macchia G., Massone A., Papini E., Xiang Z., Figura N. Molecular characterization of the 128-kDa immunodominant antigen of Helicobacter pylori associated with cytotoxicity and duodenal ulcer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jun 15;90(12):5791–5795. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.12.5791. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cover T. L., Blaser M. J. Helicobacter pylori infection, a paradigm for chronic mucosal inflammation: pathogenesis and implications for eradication and prevention. Adv Intern Med. 1996;41:85–117. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cover T. L., Glupczynski Y., Lage A. P., Burette A., Tummuru M. K., Perez-Perez G. I., Blaser M. J. Serologic detection of infection with cagA+ Helicobacter pylori strains. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jun;33(6):1496–1500. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.6.1496-1500.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Cover T. L., Tummuru M. K., Cao P., Thompson S. A., Blaser M. J. Divergence of genetic sequences for the vacuolating cytotoxin among Helicobacter pylori strains. J Biol Chem. 1994 Apr 8;269(14):10566–10573. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Danielsson D., Blomberg B., Järnerot G., Kosunen T. U. Heterogeneity of Campylobacter pylori as demonstrated by co-agglutination testing with rabbit antibodies. Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl. 1988;142:58–63. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dunn B. E., Campbell G. P., Perez-Perez G. I., Blaser M. J. Purification and characterization of urease from Helicobacter pylori. J Biol Chem. 1990 Jun 5;265(16):9464–9469. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Dunn B. E., Roop R. M., 2nd, Sung C. C., Sharma S. A., Perez-Perez G. I., Blaser M. J. Identification and purification of a cpn60 heat shock protein homolog from Helicobacter pylori. Infect Immun. 1992 May;60(5):1946–1951. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.5.1946-1951.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Goodwin C. S., Blincow E., Peterson G., Sanderson C., Cheng W., Marshall B., Warren J. R., McCulloch R. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for Campylobacter pyloridis: correlation with presence of C. pyloridis in the gastric mucosa. J Infect Dis. 1987 Mar;155(3):488–494. doi: 10.1093/infdis/155.3.488. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hök J., Blomberg B., Danielsson D., Kosunen T. U. Detection of antibody responses in rabbits hyperimmunized with Campylobacter pylori. Enzyme immunoassay indicates extensive antigenic similarities. APMIS. 1989 Jan;97(1):56–60. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pearson A. D., Ireland A., Bamforth J., Walker C., Booth L., Hawtin P., Holdstock G., Millward-Sadler H. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of spiral bacteria from the gastric antrum. Lancet. 1984 Jun 16;1(8390):1349–1350. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)91837-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Peek R. M., Jr, Miller G. G., Tham K. T., Pérez-Pérez G. I., Cover T. L., Atherton J. C., Dunn G. D., Blaser M. J. Detection of Helicobacter pylori gene expression in human gastric mucosa. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jan;33(1):28–32. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.1.28-32.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pei Z. H., Ellison R. T., 3rd, Blaser M. J. Identification, purification, and characterization of major antigenic proteins of Campylobacter jejuni. J Biol Chem. 1991 Sep 5;266(25):16363–16369. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Perez-Perez G. I., Blaser M. J. Conservation and diversity of Campylobacter pyloridis major antigens. Infect Immun. 1987 May;55(5):1256–1263. doi: 10.1128/iai.55.5.1256-1263.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Perez-Perez G. I., Dworkin B. M., Chodos J. E., Blaser M. J. Campylobacter pylori antibodies in humans. Ann Intern Med. 1988 Jul 1;109(1):11–17. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-109-1-11. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Perez G. I., Hopkins J. A., Blaser M. J. Antigenic heterogeneity of lipopolysaccharides from Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter fetus. Infect Immun. 1985 May;48(2):528–533. doi: 10.1128/iai.48.2.528-533.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Pérez-Pérez G. I., Thiberge J. M., Labigne A., Blaser M. J. Relationship of immune response to heat-shock protein A and characteristics of Helicobacter pylori-infected patients. J Infect Dis. 1996 Nov;174(5):1046–1050. doi: 10.1093/infdis/174.5.1046. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sharma S. A., Miller G. G., Perez-Perez G. I., Gupta R. S., Blaser M. J. Humoral and cellular immune recognition of Helicobacter pylori proteins are not concordant. Clin Exp Immunol. 1994 Jul;97(1):126–132. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1994.tb06590.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Taylor D. N., Blaser M. J. The epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection. Epidemiol Rev. 1991;13:42–59. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036078. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Tummuru M. K., Cover T. L., Blaser M. J. Cloning and expression of a high-molecular-mass major antigen of Helicobacter pylori: evidence of linkage to cytotoxin production. Infect Immun. 1993 May;61(5):1799–1809. doi: 10.1128/iai.61.5.1799-1809.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Tummuru M. K., Cover T. L., Blaser M. J. Mutation of the cytotoxin-associated cagA gene does not affect the vacuolating cytotoxin activity of Helicobacter pylori. Infect Immun. 1994 Jun;62(6):2609–2613. doi: 10.1128/iai.62.6.2609-2613.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Wirth H. P., Yang M., Karita M., Blaser M. J. Expression of the human cell surface glycoconjugates Lewis x and Lewis y by Helicobacter pylori isolates is related to cagA status. Infect Immun. 1996 Nov;64(11):4598–4605. doi: 10.1128/iai.64.11.4598-4605.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Xiang Z., Bugnoli M., Ponzetto A., Morgando A., Figura N., Covacci A., Petracca R., Pennatini C., Censini S., Armellini D. Detection in an enzyme immunoassay of an immune response to a recombinant fragment of the 128 kilodalton protein (CagA) of Helicobacter pylori. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1993 Oct;12(10):739–745. doi: 10.1007/BF02098460. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Zhang L., Blot W. J., You W. C., Chang Y. S., Kneller R. W., Jin M. L., Li J. Y., Zhao L., Liu W. D., Zhang J. S. Helicobacter pylori antibodies in relation to precancerous gastric lesions in a high-risk Chinese population. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1996 Aug;5(8):627–630. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. von Wulffen H., Grote H. J. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of immunoglobulin A and G antibodies to Campylobacter pylori. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 1988 Aug;7(4):559–565. doi: 10.1007/BF01962616. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES