TY - JOUR T1 - <em>Helicobacter pylori</em> upregulates matrilysin (MMP-7) in epithelial cells in vivo and in vitro in a Cag dependent manner JF - Gut JO - Gut SP - 1408 LP - 1413 DO - 10.1136/gut.52.10.1408 VL - 52 IS - 10 AU - J R Bebb AU - D P Letley AU - R J Thomas AU - F Aviles AU - H M Collins AU - S A Watson AU - N M Hand AU - A Zaitoun AU - J C Atherton Y1 - 2003/10/01 UR - http://gut.bmj.com/content/52/10/1408.abstract N2 - Background and aims: Matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) is important in normal and pathological remodelling of epithelial-matrix interactions, and is upregulated in gastric cancer. Helicobacter pylori infection is the first stage in gastric carcinogenesis, and therefore our aim was to determine if H pylori upregulated gastric MMP-7 expression and if this was affected by strain virulence. Methods: We took gastric biopsy specimens at endoscopy from H pylori infected (n = 17) and uninfected (n = 18) patients and assessed MMP-7 expression by ELISA, real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and immunohistochemistry (concentrating on epithelial cells in the proliferative zone). We PCR typed H pylori for cagE and vacA. We performed H pylori/cell line coculture studies with wild-type pathogenic and non-pathogenic H pylori strains and with CagE− and VacA− isogenic mutants. Results: Gastric biopsy specimens from H pylori+ patients expressed higher levels of MMP-7 at the protein and mRNA levels in the antrum and corpus (for example, by ELISA: H pylori+ 0.182 OD units vH pylori− 0.059; p = 0.009 antrum). Epithelial cells from H pylori+ patients stained more intensely for MMP-7 than those from uninfected patients, including in the proliferative zone containing pluripotent cells (p&lt;0.03 antrum, p&lt;0.04 body). Upregulation of MMP-7 in epithelial cells was confirmed at the protein and mRNA levels by H pylori/cell line coculture. These experiments also showed that MMP-7 upregulation was dependent on an intact H pyloricag pathogenicity island but not on the vacuolating cytotoxin. Conclusion: We speculate that increased expression of MMP-7 in H pylori gastritis may contribute to gastric carcinogenesis. ER -