CagL polymorphisms D58/K59 are predominant in Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from Mexican patients with chronic gastritis.

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori is a Gram¿negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa in humans. One of the main virulence factors of H. pylori is the cag pathogenicity island (cagPAI), which encodes a type 4¿secretion system (T4SS) and the cytotoxin CagA. Translocation of CagA through the T4SS triggers host¿signaling pathways. One of the T4SS proteins is CagL, which is necessary for CagA translocation. CagL is a 26¿kDa protein that contains a hypervariable motif, which spans residues 58 to 62. Several polymorphisms in this region have been associated with different disease outcomes, e.g. in Mexico, N58 is associated with a higher risk of gastric cancer. The aim of this work is to analyze the sequence of the hypervariable motif (residues 58 to 62) of clinical isolates from Mexican patients with chronic gastritis, and to correlate these polymorphisms with the vacA genotype.