Project name: Mus musculus

Description: Following the initial demonstration of Helicobacter pylori’s pathogenic potential, evidence has been accumulated that H. pylori is the leading cause of gastric ulcers, carcinoma and lymphoma3. Cholesterol is a physiological constituent of membranes critical for their biophysical properties, but is stigmatised as mediating detrimental effects in obesity and cardiovascular disease. Since H. pylori is auxotrophic for cholesterol, we explored the assimilation of cholesterol by H. pylori upon infection. Here we show that H. pylori follows a cholesterol gradient and extracts the lipid from plasma membranes of epithelial cells for subsequent glycosylation. Cholesterol promotes phagocytosis of H. pylori by antigen-presenting cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells and enhances antigen-specific T cell responses. Consistently, cholesterol-rich diet during bacterial challenge leads to a reduction of the H. pylori burden in the stomach. Intrinsic a-glycosylation of cholesterol abrogates phagocytosis of H. pylori and subsequent T cell activation. Hence, we propose a novel mechanism regulating host-pathogen interaction which describes glycosylation of a lipid tipping the scales towards immune evasion or response.Keywords: disease state analysisOverall design: color-swap dye-reversal hybridizations

Data type: Transcriptome or Gene expression

Sample scope: Multiisolate

Relevance: ModelOrganism

Release date: 2005-12-22

Last updated: 2005-12-20