Helicobacter pylori induces gene expression in human gastric cells identified by mRNA differential display

Changes in gene expression patterns in gastric cells infected with Helicobacter pylori were characterized by means of mRNA differential display. Total RNA preparations were extracted from the H. pylori infected gastric cells and paired non-infected cells, and were probed with candidate clones identified after screening up to 6,000 mRNA species. Among them, four clones, 04G-1, 04G-2, 01G-1, and Cppa-2 show significant expression in the infected cells by Northern blot analysis, and they are 199 bp, 196 bp, 228 bp, and 276 bp in length, respectively. Database search revealed that nucleotide sequences of these clones share very low identity with any known sequence. These results indicate that H. pylori can significantly affect gene expression in gastric cells. Furthermore mRNA differential display can be used in pathogenesis studies to identify new genes in gastric cells in response to insults such as H. pylori.