Host specificity of Helicobacter pylori strains and host responses in experimentally challenged nonhuman primates

The specificity of colonization by Helicobacter pylori and complex host-bacterium interactions cannot be readily examined in humans. The aim of this study was to perform such analyses in rhesus monkeys.

Four animals that had been cured of natural H. pylori colonization were challenged with a mixture of 7 strains of human origin, and bacteria recovered during periodic videogastroscopy were DNA fingerprinted.

Three animals carried mixtures of several strains for 4 months, after which strain J166 predominated. In the fourth animal, only strain J238 was isolated from the earliest phase of colonization through 7 months, but strain J166 again became predominant by 10 months after the challenge. Gastritis scores and plasma gastrin and anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin G titers reached levels observed in naturally colonized animals by 4 months after the challenge; however, no plasma immunoglobulin A response was observed up to 10 months.

These results show that (1) natural colonization does not elicit protective immunity against subsequent H. pylori challenge; (2) individuals differ in susceptibility to different H. pylori strains during initial stages of colonization; and (3) certain strains are better suited than others for long-term survival in different hosts. These observations show the complexity of H. pylori-host interactions.