Inhibition of the vacuolating and anion channel activities of the VacA toxin of Helicobacter pylori

FEBS Letters

Montecucco, Cesare²  Del Giudice, Giuseppe¹  Tombola, Francesco²  Zoratti, Mario²  Papini, Emanuele³  Brutsche, Sandra²  Oregna, Federica²  Rappuoli, Rino¹  Szabò, Ildikò² 

[1] Centro Ricerche IRIS, CHIRON-Vaccines, Via Fiorentina 1, 53100 Siena, Italy;Centro CNR Biomembrane, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Universita’ di Padova, Viale G. Colombo 3, 35121 Padova, Italy;Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Oncologia Umana, Universita’ di Bari, P.zza Giulio Cesare 11, 70100 Bari, Italy

关键词: Gastritis;    Ulcer;    VacA;    Ion channel inhibition;    Helicobacter pylori;   

DOI  :  10.1016/S0014-5793(99)01348-4

学科分类：生物化学/生物物理

来源: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

【 摘 要 】

VacA, the vacuolating cytotoxin secreted by Helicobacter pylori, is believed to be a major causative factor in the development of gastroduodenal ulcers. This toxin causes vacuolation of cultured cells and it has recently been found to form anion-selective channels upon insertion into planar bilayers as well as in the plasmamembrane of HeLa cells. Here, we identify a series of inhibitors of VacA channels and we compare their effectiveness as channel blockers and as inhibitors of VacA-induced vacuolation, confirming that the two phenomena are linked. This characterization opens the way to studies in other experimental systems and to the search for a specific inhibitor of VacA action.

【 授权许可】

Unknown