The urea cycle of Helicobacter pylori

The urea breath test for Helicobacter pylori.

Urea breath tests in the management of Helicobacter pylori infection.

The 13/14C-Urea breath test (UBT) is based on the simple principle that a solution of isotopically labelled urea will be rapidly hydrolysed by the abundantly expressed urease of H pylori. The released 13/14CO2 is absorbed across the mucus layer to the gastric mucosa and hence, via the systemic circulation, excreted in the expired breath. Distribution of urea throughout the stomach prevents samp...

Urea Breath Tests for Detection of Helicobacter pylori

The association ofHelicobacter pyloriwith peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer was first proposed by Warren and Marshall in 1983 (Warren and Marshall, 1983). In February 1994, the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference concluded thatH. pylori infection is themajor cause of peptic ulcer disease, and all patients with confirmed peptic ulcer disease associatedwithH. pylo...

The Helicobacter pylori VacA toxin is a urea permease that promotes urea diffusion across epithelia.

Urease and the cytotoxin VacA are two major virulence factors of the human pathogen Helicobacter pylori, which is responsible for severe gastroduodenal diseases. Diffusion of urea, the substrate of urease, into the stomach is critically required for the survival of infecting H. pylori. We now show that VacA increases the transepithelial flux of urea across model epithelia by inducing an unsatur...

Vacuolating Cytotoxin of Helicobacter pylori

Vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) is one of the most important virulence factors of H. pylori (Hp), which isthe only toxic protein that is secreted from Hp cell into the culture supernatant. The effects of VacA oneukaryotic systems is the subject of many previous and on going research studies. Intracellular targetsfor this toxin include: late endosomal and lysosomal compartments, m...