Figure 2.

Chronic infection of H. pylori can inhibit autophagy. Autophagy-associated proteins are the targets of miR-30d and miR-30b, inhibiting autophagosome formation. Autophagy is disrupted by the prolonged co-culture of VacA since cathepsin D expression is inhibited in autophagosomes. The expression of the autophagic proteins is downregulated by the Akt signaling pathway during chronic CagA+ H. pylori infection. VacA, vacuolating cytotoxin; CagA, cytotoxin-associated gene A; ULK, Unc-51-like kinase 1; LC3, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3; ATG5, autophagy related 5; ATG12, autophagy related 12; ATG16L1, autophagy related 16 like 1; mir-30b, microRNA-30b; mir-30d, microRNA-30d.