H. pylori escape host immunoreaction through inhibiting ILK expression by VacA.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) persistently colonizes the gastric mucosa despite a vigorous immune response. Vacuolating cytotoxin secreted by H. pylori has turned out to be a potent immunomodulatory toxin, but the signal transduction pathways involved has not been studied in macrophages. We observed in this study that vacA-deficient H. pylori induced significantly higher expression of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) and endothelial nitric oxygen synthase (eNOS), and significantly more production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in monocyte/macrophage-like U937 cells, as compared with isogenic vacA+ H. pylori. The expression of eNOS mRNA in U937 cells overexpressing ILK was markedly increased compared with those transfected with empty vectors. Thus, vacA-deficient H. pylori appears to upregulate ILK expression, which modulates the expression of eNOS and as a result, stimulates the production of ROS. It is VacA that prevents such a process by inhibiting ILK expression, helping H. pylori escape host immunoreaction. This mechanism explains, at least in part, persistent infection of H. pylori in the stomach.