Whole Genome Sequencing Reveals Virulence Potentials of Helicobacter pylori Strain KE21 Isolated from a Kenyan Patient with Gastric Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma
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Date
2020
Authors
Mwangi, Catherine
Njoroge, Stephen
Tshibangu-Kabamba, Evariste
Moloo, Zahir
Rajula, Allan
Devani, Smita
Matsumoto, Takashi
Nyerere, Kimang’a
Kariuki, Samuel
Revathi, Gunturu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MPDI
Abstract
Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) infection is etiologically associated with severe diseases including
gastric cancer; but its pathogenicity is deeply shaped by the exceptional genomic diversification and
geographic variation of the species. The clinical relevance of strains colonizing Africa is still debated.
This study aimed to explore genomic features and virulence potentials of H. pylori KE21, a typical
African strain isolated from a native Kenyan patient diagnosed with a gastric cancer. A high-quality
circular genome assembly of 1,648,327 bp (1590 genes) obtained as a hybrid of Illumina Miseq
short reads and Oxford Nanopore MinION long reads, clustered within hpAfrica1 population. This
genome revealed a virulome and a mobilome encoding more than hundred features potentiating
a successful colonization, persistent infection, and enhanced disease pathogenesis. Furthermore,
through an experimental infection of gastric epithelial cell lines, strain KE21 showed the ability to
promote interleukin-8 production and to induce cellular alterations resulting from the injection of a
functional CagA oncogene protein into the cells. This study shows that strain KE21 is potentially
virulent and can trigger oncogenic pathways in gastric epithelial cells. Expended genomic and clinical
explorations are required to evaluate the epidemiological importance of H. pylori infection and its
putative complications in the study population.
Description
This research was funded by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (26640114, 15H02657, 16H05191, 16H06279, 18KK0266,
and 19H03473 to Yoshio Yamaoka), the Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology from
the MEXT of Japan to Yoshio Yamaoka, and National Institutes of Health grants DK62813 to Yoshio Yamaoka.
This work was also supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Institutional Program for
Core-to-Core Program; B. Africa-Asia Science Platform to Yoshio Yamaoka, and the Oita University President
Research Project 2019 to Takashi Matsumoto, Evariste Tshibangu-Kabamba is a doctoral student supported by the
MEXT Scholarship Program founded by the Japanese Government.
Keywords
Helicobacter pylori, Kenya, whole genome sequencing, virulence, virulome, mobilome, Illumina Miseq, Oxford Nanopore MinION
Citation
Mwangi, C., Njoroge, S., Tshibangu-Kabamba, E., Moloo, Z., Rajula, A., Devani, S., ... & Yamaoka, Y. (2020). Whole Genome Sequencing Reveals Virulence Potentials of Helicobacter pylori Strain KE21 Isolated from a Kenyan Patient with Gastric Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma. Toxins, 12(9), 556.