ALPK1 And TIFA Dependent Innate Immune Response Triggered By The Helicobacter Pylori Type IV Secretion System

Activation of transcription factor NF-{kappa}B is a hallmark of infection with the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori and associated with inflammation and carcinogenesis. Genome-wide RNAi screening revealed numerous hits involved in H. pylori-, but not IL-1{beta}- and TNF-- dependent NF-{kappa}B regulation. Pathway analysis including CRISPR/Cas9-knockout and recombinant protein technology, immunofluorescence microscopy, immunoblotting, mass spectrometry and mutant H. pylori strains, identified the H. pylori metabolite D-glycero-{beta}-D-manno-heptose 1,7-bisphosphate ({beta}HBP) as a cagPAI type IV secretion system (T4SS)-dependent effector of NF-{kappa}B activation in infected cells. Upon pathogen-host cell contact, TIFA forms large complexes (TIFAsomes) including interacting host factors, such as TRAF2. NF-{kappa}B activation, TIFA phosphorylation as well as TIFAsome formation depended on a functional ALPK1 kinase, highlighting the ALPK1-TIFA axis as core of a novel innate immune pathway. ALPK1-TIFA-mediated NF-{kappa}B activation was independent of CagA protein translocation, indicating that CagA translocation and HBP delivery to host cells are distinct features of the pathogens T4SS.