Abstract
The gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori is known to activate multiple proinflammatory signaling pathways in epithelial cells. In this study, we addressed the question of whether expression of the interleukin-8 receptors IL-8RA (CXCR1) and IL-8RB (CXCR2) is upregulated in H. pylori-infected human gastric biopsy samples. Biopsy samples from patients infected with H. pylori strains harboring the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) expressed larger amounts of both receptors. In addition, IL-8RB expression was induced in the gastric epithelial cell line AGS upon infection with a clinical isolate containing the cag PAI, while a strain lacking the cag PAI did not. Our finding suggests that gastric epithelial cells express IL-8R in response to H. pylori infection.