Helicobacter pylori CagA and IL-1β Promote the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in a Nontransformed Epithelial Cell Model

Figure 4

CagA but not IL-1β promotes MMP9 activity and invasion. (a) Representative gelatin zymogram showing metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) hydrolytic activity in culture media recovered from MCF-10A cells stimulated with IL-1β or infected with cagA positive and negative H. pylori strains. (b) Densitometric analysis of three independent experiments. (c-d) Invasion assays of cells stimulated with IL-1β or infected. AKT and Src kinase inhibitors (inh) were used to inhibit the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and CagA activity, respectively. (c) shows a representative insert from which the invading cells were counted and (d) shows a graphical representation of the quantification of all assays. The bars are the mean fold changes normalized to mock cells. Experiments for (a) and (b) were done three times in duplicate and for (c) and (d) once in triplicate. Statistical analyses were performed by one-way ANOVA () and mock cells were used as the baseline value.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)