Infection and Immunity, May 2003, p. 2976-2980, Vol. 71, No. 5
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.5.2976-2980.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Susann Teneberg,2 Niamh Roche,2 and Torkel Wadström1*
Department of Medical Microbiology, Dermatology and Infection, Lund University, Lund,1 Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden2
Received 23 September 2002/ Returned for modification 6 December 2002/ Accepted 17 January 2003
| ABSTRACT |
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H. pylori strains (all human isolates) from the Culture Collection of the University of Gothenberg (CCUG), namely, CCUG 17874 and CCUG 17875 as well as the clinical isolate 119/95 from Lund University Hospital, were used. Gastric species examined in the present study included Helicobacter mustelae ferret isolates from the National Collection of Type Cultures and the CCUG, including NCTC 12198/CCUG 25175 (equivalent strains), CCUG 23950, and CCUG 23951. "Helicobacter suncus" was originally isolated from the Japanese mouse shrew (6), and Helicobacter felis CCUG 28539 was isolated from a cat. Also, a human gastric clinical isolate initially identified as "Helicobacter heilmannii" was used (2). "H. heilmannii" organisms are a morphometry-based group and may contain a number of taxa, including Helicobacter bizzozeronii. Subsequent to the performance of our study, it was reported that the isolate used in the present study has been more definitively identified as H. bizzozeronii R-53 (11), and this designation is used here. A similar situation arises with the enterohepatic grouping of strains designated "Helicobacter rappini"/"Flexispira rappini," which can include many taxa. The strain in the present study is a canine isolate from the University of Helsinki and is referred to as Helicobacter sp. flexispira taxon KT0201 here. Other enterohepatic helicobacters from various hosts were purchased from the CCUG, including Helicobacter canis CCUG 33835 (dog isolate), Helicobacter bilis CCUG 38995 (mouse isolate), Helicobacter hepaticus CCUG 33637 (mouse isolate), Helicobacter fennelliae CCUG 18820 (human isolate), and Helicobacter pullorum strains CCUG 33837 (chicken isolate), CCUG 33839 (human isolate), and NCTC 12827 (human isolate).
All helicobacters were tested in a hemagglutination (HA) assay by mixing equal volumes (30 µl) of a bacterial suspension (109 CFU ml-1) with a 0.75% (vol/vol) solution of washed erythrocytes in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS; pH 7.2). We used erythrocytes from horses, sheep, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hens (State Veterinary Institute, Uppsala, Sweden), and humans of blood types O and AB (blood bank, University Hospital Lund) (18). Alternatively, erythrocytes were mixed with PBS as a negative control. In cases of positive binding, the HA titer was determined, with 1 HA unit being defined as the minimum amount of bacterial cells required to cause complete HA.
An HA inhibition assay utilized glycoproteins (10 mg ml-1), including fetuin,
1-acid glycoprotein (orosomucoid), and asialofetuin (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.), with the first two expressing terminal sialic acids which are important in the lectin activities of certain strains of H. pylori. Other terminal monosaccharide residues predominate in the case of asialofetuin, including galactose, mannose, and N-acetylgalactosamine. In addition, gastric mucin fractions of human and porcine origins were also used in HA inhibition as described previously (18). Gastric mucins are rich in fucose, galactose, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, and terminal sialic acid. All assays were carried out at least in triplicate.
Two broad HA profiles were observed (Table 1). H. pylori 119/95, H. mustelae NCTC 12198, H. bizzozeronii, "H. suncus," and H. bilis CCUG 38995 caused HA for all or the majority of erythrocytes tested (five to seven of seven kinds). Variable HA activity was noted for H. hepaticus, although in the majority of tests, no binding was observed. In contrast, most enterohepatic helicobacters and H. felis CCUG 28539 did not cause the HA of any erythrocytes tested, with the exception of rabbit blood cells. H. mustelae, H. pylori, H. bizzozeronii, and H. bilis were analyzed in more detail for their precise HA titers (Table 2). The HA of rabbit erythrocytes could be largely inhibited by orosomucoid. However, human and porcine mucin preparations proved to be poor inhibitors for HA. In most cases, asialofetuin proved to be more effective than fetuin in inhibiting HA, except with H. bilis CCUG 38995, for which the converse was true (data not shown). Subsequently, both fetuin and asialofetuin were covalently coupled to carboxylate-modified latex particles (diameter, 0.8 µm; Seradyn, Indianapolis, Ind.) as described previously (17). Bacterial suspensions (109 CFU ml-1) were mixed with equal volumes (10 µl) of coupled latex beads on a glass slide and tilted for 30 s, and results were assessed visually. Both gastric and enterohepatic helicobacters demonstrated reactivity with fetuin- and asialofetuin-coated beads. However, H. felis CCUG 28539 failed to react with fetuin or asialofetuin and reactions with all H. pullorum isolates were weak. Furthermore, H. bilis CCUG 38995 agglutinated more strongly with these beads than any other enterohepatic helicobacter.
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HA was also decreased or eliminated following proteolytic treatments of the bacteria using either proteinase K (1 mg ml-1, 65°C, 1 h), pronase E (1 mg ml-1, 37°C, 1 h), or heat treatment (100°C for 5 min). In order to determine the localization of the factors involved in positive HA results, an acid glycine extract from the bacteria was tested. Acid-glycine extracts have been routinely used to characterize the cell surface of H. pylori, and this fraction contains predominantly surface-associated proteins with minor amounts of cytoplasmic proteins and lipopolysaccharide. Proteins were mildly extracted using a 0.2 M acidic glycine (pH 2.2) wash for 15 min at 20°C (19). The use of acid-glycine extracts in both the HA and the particle agglutination assay yielded results identical to those for whole bacterial cells.
The binding of Helicobacter spp. to both acidic and nonacidic fractions of glycosphingolipids was subsequently assessed. Glycosphingolipids were isolated by standard procedures (12). The identities of the purified glycosphingolipids were confirmed by mass spectrometry (22), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (14), and degradation studies (24, 29).
Mixtures of glycosphingolipids (40 µg/lane) or pure compounds (2 µg/lane) were subsequently separated by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) on glass- or aluminum-backed Silica Gel 60 high-performance TLC plates (Merck, Darmstadt, Germany), with chloroform-methanol-water (60:35:8, by volume) as the solvent system. Chemical detection was accomplished with anisaldehyde (28). For labeling, colonies were inoculated on Brucella agar plates, and 50 mCi of [35S]methionine (Amersham, Little Chalfont, United Kingdom) diluted in 0.5 ml of PBS, pH 7.3, was sprinkled over the plates. Alternatively, colonies were inoculated (105 CFU ml-1) in Ham's F-12 medium (Gibco BRL, Paisley, United Kingdom), with 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum and 50 mCi of [35S]methionine per 10 ml of medium. After incubation under standard conditions, the cells were harvested, washed, resuspended to 108 CFU ml-1 in PBS, and incubated with shaking under microaerophilic conditions at 37°C for 12 to 24 h. Both labeling procedures resulted in suspensions with specific activities of approximately 1 cpm per 100 H. pylori organisms (3). Binding of the labeled bacteria to glycosphingolipids separated by TLC was achieved using a bacterial-overlay technique coupled with autoradiography detection using XAR-5 X-ray films (Eastman Kodak, Rochester, N.Y.) as described elsewhere (7).
It has been established previously that both H. pylori and H. mustelae bind gangliotetraosylceramide (5a), which was confirmed in this study; a similar capacity was also demonstrated for H. felis CCUG 28539, H. canis CCUG 33835, and H. hepaticus CCUG 33637 (Table 3). Furthermore, in common with H. pylori, we found that both the gastric and enterohepatic Helicobacter spp. tested were capable of binding to lactotetraosylceramide, lactosylceramide with phytosphingosine, and/or hydroxy fatty acids and isoglobotriaosylceramide. In contrast, within the strains and species tested, binding to Leb glycosphingolipid was solely observed for H. pylori CCUG 17875 (Table 3).
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However, sialic acid recognition as evidenced by binding to the acid glycosphingolipid fraction of human granulocytes was observed for strains of H. hepaticus (Fig. 1B, lane 1) and H. pylori but was not observed for H. bilis (Fig. 1C, lane 1). Differences noted in the two methods used to characterize the protein-carbohydrate interactions in particular for strains of H. hepaticus and H. bilis may have been due to phase or strain variation in the levels of expression of these adhesins or the presence of a mixed culture of strains. Both hypotheses are supported by our observation of occasional binding for H. hepaticus CCUG 33637 and H. mustelae CCUG 25715 in the HA and overlay assays, respectively. More-sensitive techniques to detect binding, including surface plasmon resonance, may improve the detection of such lectin-like activity.
A further possibility is that the putative bacterial lectins have different fine specificities. It is known that human erythrocytes contain a number of gangliosides which may be involved in lectin interactions. Their HA profiles and their ability to bind to various nonacid glycosphingolipids from human erythrocytes suggest that gastric helicobacter strains are capable of recognizing heterogenous glycoconjugate receptors but that the majority of enterohepatic helicobacters and H. felis may have a more defined set of adhesins which do not seem to rely on sialic acid. Alternatively, it has been previously established that different gastric helicobacter isolates from dogs, including H. felis and H. bizzozeronii, differ in morphology and perhaps also motility, which may in turn have an impact on adhesion (25). A similar situation may arise in relation to the enterohepatic species. However, as demonstrated with H. pylori, the expression of sialic acid-dependent binding may be strain specific or due to phase variation as noted by Mahdavi and colleagues (20). Thus, the low numbers of strains of different helicobacter species, in particular for the enterohepatic species, represent a limitation in the present study that awaits better methods of isolation, culture, transport, and resuscitation for Helicobacter spp.
The differential levels of expression of lectins on the surfaces of helicobacters discerned in our study may reflect the bacterium's niche and/or ability to strongly adhere to the host's cells. As was suggested recently, a varied lectin-based adhesion strategy may be useful at specific instances during the course of a chronic infection, as changes occur in the levels of receptors expressed in inflamed tissue (20). From the present study it is apparent that certain hepatobiliary helicobacters, namely, H. hepaticus and H. bilis may share common adhesion strategies with H. pylori. The pathogenic potential of similar adhesins and other common pathogenic factors, in particular, urease, for these hepatic helicobacters is as yet unknown. Further characterization of the effects of these putative adhesins in the variations of particular strains would be important to gain insights into the different adherence strategies utilized by these emerging pathogens but requires a greater availability of fresh clinical isolates of these species.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We gratefully acknowledge receipt of strains used in this study from the following sources: Leif Andersen, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; Margeruite Clyne, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, Ireland; Marja-Liisa Hanninen, University of Helsinki, Finland; Kazuo Goto, Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kanagawa, Japan; and Manfred Kist, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. We thank Kyoko Hotta, Kitasato University, Tokyo, Japan, for providing mucin fractions for study.
| FOOTNOTES |
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Present address: Anesthesia Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905. ![]()
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