Helicobacter pylori : molecular mechanisms for variable adherence properties

More than half of all people worldwide are infected with H. pylori. The infection always cause a gastric inflammation that may develop into peptic ulcer disease or gastric cancer. Attachment proteins, adhesins, mediate specific adherence of H. pylori to receptor structures on the human gastric mucosa. The best-characterized H. pylori adhesin-receptor interactions are the BabA adhesin and the binding to the fucosylated blood group antigens ABO/Lewis b (Leb) and the SabA adhesin and its binding to the inflammation associated sialyl-Lewis x antigen. During H. pylori infection the availability of... Mehr ...