Helicobacter (H.) suis has been associated with chronic gastritis and ulcers of the pars oesophagea in pigs, and with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma in humans. In order to obtain better insight into the genes involved in pathogenicity and in the specific adaptation to the gastric environment of H. suis, a genome analysis was performed of two H. suis strains isolated from the gastric mucosa of swine. Homologs of the vast majority of genes shown to be important for gastric colonization of the human pathogen H. pylori were detected in the H. suis genome. H. suis encodes several putative outer membrane proteins, of which two similar to the H. pylori adhesins HpaA and HorB. H. suis harbours an almost complete comB type IV secretion system and members of the type IV secretion system 3, but lacks most of the genes present in the cag pathogenicity island of H. pylori. Homologs of genes encoding the H. pylori neutrophil-activating protein and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase were identified in H. suis. H. suis also possesses several other presumptive virulence-associated genes, including homologs for mviN, the H. pylori flavodoxin gene, and a homolog of the H. pylori vacuolating cytotoxin A gene. It was concluded that although genes coding for some important virulence factors in H. pylori, such as the cytotoxin-associated protein (CagA), are not detected in the H. suis genome, homologs of other genes associated with colonization and virulence of H. pylori and other bacteria are present.

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Helicobacter suis is a very fastidious porcine gastric pathogen, which is also considered to be of zoonotic importance. In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility cannot be determined using standard assays, as this agent only grows in a biphasic medium with an acidic pH. Therefore, a combined agar and broth dilution method was used to analyse the activity of nine antimicrobial agents against nine H. suis isolates. After 48 h microaerobic incubation, minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined by software-assisted calculation of bacterial growth. Only for enrofloxacin a bimodal distribution of MICs was demonstrated, indicating acquired resistance in one strain, which showed an AGT→AGG (Ser→Arg) substitution at codon 99 of gyrA. In conclusion, the assay developed here is suitable for determination of the antimicrobial susceptibility of H. suis isolates, although activity of acid sensitive antimicrobial agents may be higher than predicted from MIC endpoints.

Helicobacter (H.) suis is a porcine and human gastric pathogen. Previous studies in mice showed that an H. suis infection does not result in protective immunity, whereas immunization with H. suis whole-cell lysate (lysate) protects against a subsequent experimental infection. Therefore, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of H. suis proteins was performed followed by immunoblotting with pooled sera from H. suis- infected mice or mice immunized with lysate. Weak reactivity against H. suis proteins was observed in post-infection sera. Sera from lysate-immunized mice, however, showed immunoreactivity against a total of 19 protein spots which were identified using LC-MS/MS. The H. suis urease subunit B (UreB) showed most pronounced reactivity against sera from lysate-immunized mice and was not detected with sera from infected mice. None of the pooled sera detected H. suis neutrophil-activating protein A (NapA). The protective efficacy of intranasal vaccination of BALB/c mice with H. suis UreB and NapA, both recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli (rUreB and rNapA, respectively), was compared with that of H. suis lysate. All vaccines contained choleratoxin as adjuvant. Immunization of mice with rUreB and lysate induced a significant reduction of H. suis colonization compared to non-vaccinated H. suis-infected controls, whereas rNapA had no significant protective effect. Probably, a combination of local Th1 and Th17 responses, complemented by antibody responses play a role in the protective immunity against H. suis infections.

14Helicobacter (H.) suis causes gastric lesions in pigs and humans. This study aimed to evaluate 15 the protective efficacy of immunization with combinations of the H. suis urease subunit B (UreB) 16 and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), both recombinantly expressed in Escherichia coli (rUreB 17 and rGGT, respectively). Mice were intranasally immunized with rUreB, rGGT or a combination 18 of both proteins, administered simultaneously or sequentially.