Involvement of the heparan sulphate-binding proteins of Helicobacter pylori in its adherence to HeLaS3 and Kato III cell lines

To determine whether Helicobacter pylori heparan sulphate-binding proteins (HSBPs) are involved in the adherence of H. pylori to HeLa and Kato III cel ls, monolayers were pre-incubated with various preparations and concentrati ons of H, pylori HSBPs at 37 degreesC, washed and then challenged with bact eria. HSBPs did not prevent but enhanced H, pylori adherence. However, chal lenging cultured cells with H, pylori previously incubated with rabbit anti -HSBP IgG resulted in significant inhibition of bacterial adherence. These data demonstrate that the extracellular HSBP plays an important role in pro moting H, pylori attachment to Kato III and HeLa S3 cells, that adhesion of H, pylori to Kato III and HeLa S3 cells is promoted by the presence of the 71.5-kDa extracellular HSBP and that rabbit polyclonal antibodies against this HSBP can inhibit adhesion of H. pylori to the cultured cell lines and detach cell-bound H. pylori.