Lactobacilli Downregulate Transcription Factors in Helicobacter pylori That Affect Motility, Acid Tolerance and Antimicrobial Peptide Survival

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection triggers inflammation that may lead to gastritis, stomach ulcers and cancer. Probiotic bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, have been of interest as treatment options, however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of Lactobacillus-mediated inhibition of H. pylori pathogenesis. In this work, we investigated the effect of Lactobacillus culture supernatants, so-called conditioned medium (CM), from two gastric isolates, L. gasseri and L. oris, on the expression of transcriptional regulators in H. pylori. Among the four known two-component systems (TCSs), i.e., ArsRS, FlgRS, CheAY and CrdRS, the flagellar regulator gene flgR and the acid resistance associated arsS gene were down-regulated by L. gasseri CM, whereas expression of the other TCS-genes remained unaffected. L. gasseri CM also reduced the motility of H. pylori, which is in line with reduced flgR expression. Furthermore, among six transcription factors of H. pylori only the ferric uptake regulator gene fur was regulated by L. gasseri CM. Deletion of fur further led to dramatically increased sensitivity to the antimicrobial peptide LL-37. Taken together, the results highlight that released/secreted factors of some lactobacilli, but not all, downregulate transcriptional regulators involved in motility, acid tolerance and LL-37 sensitivity of H. pylori.