Expression data from murine gastric epithelium

Chronic infection with the bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori is a risk factor for the development of gastric cancer, yet remains asymptomatic in a majority of individuals. We report here that the C57Bl6 mouse model of experimental infection with the closely related H. felis recapitulates this wide range in host susceptibility. A majority of infected mice develop premalignant lesions such as gastric atrophy, compensatory epithelial hyperplasia and intestinal metaplasia, whereas a minority is completely protected from preneoplasia. Protection is associated with the failure to mount an IFN-gamma response to the infection and an associated high Helicobacter burden. We demonstrate that IFN-gamma is essential for clearance of Helicobacter, but also mediates the formation of preneoplastic lesions. We further provide evidence that IFN-gamma triggers a specific transcriptional program in murine gastric epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo, and induces their preferential transformation to the hyperplastic phenotype. In summary, our data suggest a dual role for IFN-gamma in Helicobacter pathogenesis that could provide an explanation for the differential susceptibility to H. pylori-induced gastric pathology in the human population. Keywords: response to in vitro stimulus / comparison of histopathological states We chose mice for gene expression profiling that following Helicobacter infection had (a) symptoms of gastritis, but no epithelial changes, (b) atrophic gastritis accompanied by corpus gland hyperplasia or (c) atrophic gastritis accompanied by intestinal metaplasia. An uninfected control group was also included in the analysis, as were two groups of mice that lacked mature T- and B-cells due to a deletion mutation in the rag1 gene (Rag-1-/-) and that were either experimentally infected or served as Rag-1-/- uninfected controls. To see the effects of IFNg on murine gastric epithelial cells we analysed an immortalized murine primary gastric epithelial cell line treated with three different concentrations of IFNg in comparison to an untreated control.