Vaccination withHelicobacter pyloriattachment proteins protects against gastric cancer

Abstract

SUMMARYMost cases of gastric cancer are caused by chronicHelicobacter pyloriinfection, but the lack of early onco-diagnostics and a high risk for antibiotic resistance hampers early intervention through eradication ofH. pyloriinfection by antibiotics. We reported on a protective mechanism whereH. pylorigastric mucosal attachment can be reduced by natural antibodies that block the binding of its attachment protein BabA. Here we show that challenge infection withH. pyloriinduced response of such blocking antibodies in both human volunteers and in rhesus macaques, that mucosal vaccination with BabA protein antigen induced blocking antibodies in rhesus macaques, and that vaccination in a mouse model induced blocking antibodies that reduced gastric mucosal inflammation, preserved the gastric juice acidity, and fully protected the mice from gastric cancer caused byH. pylori.