Helicobacter saguini, a Novel Helicobacter Isolated from Cotton-Top Tamarins with Ulcerative Colitis, Has Proinflammatory Properties and Induces Typhlocolitis and Dysplasia in Gnotobiotic IL-10-/- Mice

A urease-negative, fusiform, novel bacterium named Helicobacter saguini was isolated from the intestines and feces of cotton-top tamarins (CTTs) with chronic colitis. Helicobacter sp. was detected in 69% of feces or intestinal samples from 116 CTTs. The draft genome sequence, obtained by Illumina MiSeq sequencing, for H. saguini isolate MIT 97-6194-5, consisting of similar to 2.9 Mb with a G+C content of 35% and 2,704 genes, was annotated using the NCBI Prokaryotic Genomes Automatic Annotation Pipeline. H. saguini contains homologous genes of known virulence factors found in other enterohepatic helicobacter species (EHS) and H. pylori. These include flagellin, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (ggt), collagenase, the secreted serine protease htrA, and components of a type VI secretion system, but the genome does not harbor genes for cytolethal distending toxin (cdt). H. saguini MIT 97-6194-5 induced significant levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) in HT-29 cell culture supernatants by 4 h, which increased through 24 h. mRNAs for the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-10, and IL-6 and the chemokine CXCL1 were upregulated in cocultured HT-29 cells at 4 h compared to levels in control cells. At 3 months postinfection, all H. saguini-monoassociated gnotobiotic C57BL/129 IL-10(-/-) mice were colonized and had seroconverted to H. saguini antigen with a significant Th1-associated increase in IgG2c (P<0.0001). H. saguini induced a significant typhlocolitis, associated epithelial defects, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) hyperplasia, and dysplasia. Inflammatory cytokines IL-22, IL-17a, IL-1 beta, gamma interferon (IFN-gamma), and TNF-alpha, as well as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were significantly upregulated in the cecal tissues of infected mice. The expression of the DNA damage response molecule gamma-H2AX was significantly higher in the ceca of H. saguini-infected gnotobiotic mice than in the controls. This model using a nonhuman primate Helicobacter sp. can be used to study the pathogenic potential of EHS isolated from primates with naturally occurring inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer.