The interference of the bacterial class-I carcinogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) with cells of the epithelium and immune system involves a complex set of different classes of bacterial factors, which directly remodulate the gastric epithelium in a multistep process. In this context, the contribution of bacterial proteases to virulence has been widely understudied. Previous data show that H. pylori secretes a set of active proteases that can interfere with host cell functions to pave the functional interaction with H. pylori. In this project, we will characterize extracellularly localized H. pylori proteins exhibiting described or predicted, but uncharacterized protease activities.

Important publications:

• Löwer et al., 2008, Plos One