Adhesion of the bacteria to the gastric epithelium is essential for the establishment of infection, since specific bacterial adhesin-host receptor interactions allow the pathogen to tightly bind to target cells, thereby facilitating the colonization of the host tissue (Aspholm-Hurtig et al. Science 2004). Identification and characterization of bacterial adhesins and their corresponding receptors represents a major topic in our laboratory. Recently, we identified a novel adhesin, HopQ, which is important not only for bacterial adhesion to the gastric epithelium but also essential for translocation of the virulence factor CagA into host cells through the type IV secretion system (Javaheri et al. Nat Microbiol. 2016). HopQ binds to CEACAM receptors expressed by epithelial cells in a well-defined manner (Moonens et al. EMBO J. 2018), in which cysteine residues play an essential role (Hamway et al. Microorganisms 2020). Furthermore, we are interested in the role of this adhesin in persistence of infection and how it may eventually interfere with host-signaling cascades. This project is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG GE 2042/21-1).

Publications:

Hamway Y, Taxauer K, Moonens K, Neumeyer V, Fischer W, Schmitt V, Singer BB, Remaut H, Gerhard M, Mejías-Luque R. Cysteine Residues in Helicobacter pylori Adhesin HopQ Are Required for CEACAM-HopQ Interaction and Subsequent CagA Translocation. Microorganisms. 2020 Mar 25;8(4):465. (Full Text; Abstract))

Moonens K, Hamway Y, Neddermann M, Reschke M, Tegtmeyer N, Kruse T, Kammerer R, Mejías-Luque R, Singer BB, Backert S, Gerhard M, Remaut H. Helicobacter pylori adhesin HopQ disrupts trans dimerization in human CEACAMs. EMBO J. 2018 Jul 2;37(13). (Full Text(link is external); Abstract).

Javaheri A, Kruse T, Moonens K, Mejías-Luque R, Debraekeleer A, Asche CI, Tegtmeyer N, Kalali B, Bach NC, Sieber SA, Hill DJ, Königer V, Hauck CR, Moskalenko R, Haas R, Busch DH, Klaile E, Slevogt H, Schmidt A, Backert S, Remaut H, Singer BB, Gerhard M. Helicobacter pylori adhesin HopQ engages in a virulence-enhancing interaction with human CEACAMs. Nat Microbiol. 2016 Oct 17;2:16189. (Full Text; Abstract)