A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 sewage workers and 30 matched unexposed referents from Mansoura city, Egypt, to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Stool culture and detection of H. pylori antigen were done. In addition, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA) gene in H. pylori in st...

Because the most characteristic property of ovarian cancer is i.p. spread, the majority of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, leading to limited availability of options for curative therapies. With an intent to identify targeted therapeutic approaches, we have observed that approximately 60% of 21 ovarian cancer tissue samples express a high density of interleukin-4 receptor (IL-4R), ...

Helicobacter pylori produces a vacuolating cytotoxin, VacA, and most virulent H. pylori strains secrete VacA. VacA binds to two types of receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase (RPTP), RPTPalpha and RPTPbeta, on the surface of host cells. VacA bound to RPTPbeta, relocates and concentrates in lipid rafts in the plasma membrane. VacA causes vacuolization, membrane anion-selective channel and p...

AIMS To investigate: (1) whether Helicobacter pylori directly induces interleukin-8 (IL-8) message expression and protein secretion in established gastric epithelial cell lines; and (2) if CagA/cytotoxin positive and negative strains of H pylori differ in their ability to induce epithelial IL-8. METHODS Gastric epithelial cell lines were co-cultured with H pylori NCTC 11637 and 10 clinical is...

Assessing the neutralization capability of nonlethal but medically relevant toxins in venom has been a challenging task. Nowadays, neutralization efficacy is evaluated based simply on the survival rates of animals injected with antivenom together with a predefined dose of venom, which can determine potency against neurotoxicity but not validate the capability to neutralize cytotoxin-induced com...

T helper 17 (Th17) cells are one of the CD4+ T-cell subsets which induce a variety of diseases by secreting IL-17 and other inflammatory factors. After Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection, cytotoxin-associated gene A and urease subunit B regulate the number of Th17 cells via induction of cell differentiation by infected macrophages, activation of MyD88 and other pathways, and by driving chemokin...

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a gastric human pathogen associated with acute and chronic gastritis, 70% of all gastric ulcers, 85% of all duodenal ulcers, and both forms of stomach cancer, mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma and adenocarcinoma. Recently, attention has focused on possible relationship between presence of certain virulence factor and H. pylori-associated disea...

Shiga toxin, Shiga-like toxin I (SLT-I) and Shiga-like toxin II (SLT-II) are cell-associated cytotoxins that kill both Vero cells and HeLa cells, whereas Shiga-like toxin II variant (SLT-IIv) is an extracellular cytotoxin that is more cytotoxic for Vero cells than for HeLa cells. The basis for these differences in cytotoxin localization and host cell specificity were examined in this study. The...

Germfree mice associated with Clostridium difficile developed intestinal disease characterized by polymorphonuclear cell infiltration of the lamina propria, diarrhea, and cecal cytotoxin concentrations positive at a 10(-6) dilution. The numbers of viable bacteria never exceeded 10(10) colony-forming units per g (dry weight). Despite the high toxin levels and chronic inflammation over a 30-day p...

We describe the rarity of Helicobacter pylori strains of vacuolating cytotoxin type s1a (the type most commonly associated with peptic ulceration in the United States) among black and mixed-race South Africans. We also provide the first description of a naturally occurring strain with the vacA allelic structure s2/m1.