Gastric Mucus Alterations Associated With Murine Helicobacter Infection

Julia M. Schmitz ¹, Carolyn G. Durham ¹, Samuel B. Ho ¹ and Robin G. Lorenz ^1*

¹ Department of Microbiology (JMS,RGL) and Department of Pathology (CGD,RGL), University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, and Department of Medicine, VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California, San Diego, California (SBH)

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rlorenz{at}uab.edu.

Submitted on August 7, 2008
Accepted on 5 January 2009

	Abstract

The C57BL/6 mouse has been shown to develop gastric adenocarcinoma after Helicobacter felis infection. This model was utilized to determine if mucin and trefoil factor (TFF) expression after infection was altered in a similar fashion to the changes seen in the protective gastric mucus layer of the human stomach after H. pylori infection. Our results indicate that this mouse model mimics many of the changes seen after human H. pylori infection, including increased expression of Muc4 and Muc5b and loss of Muc5ac. These alterations in mucin expression occurred as early as 4 weeks post-infection, prior to the development of significant mucous metaplasia or gastric dysplasia. The decrease in Muc5ac expression occurred only in the body of the stomach and was not secondary to the adaptive immune response to infection, as a similar decrease in expression was seen after infection of B6.Rag-1^-/- mice, which lack B and T cells. Intriguingly, the increased expression of Muc4 and Muc5b in infected C57BL/6 mice was not seen in the infected B6.Rag-1^-/- mice. As B6.Rag-1^-/- mice do not develop gastric pathology after H. felis infection, these findings point to the potential role of Muc4 and Muc5b in disease progression. This manuscript contains online supplemental material at http://www.jhc.org. Please visit this article online to view these materials.

Key Words: mucins, trefoil factors, adaptive immunity, Helicobacter, gastric adenocarcinoma, gastritis, immunofluorescence

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Guidelines | Subscriptions | About | exPRESS - Current - Archive | Business Information | Contact

The Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry is owned, published, and licensed by The Histochemical Society © 2009