The gastric pathogen, helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), has been associated with the progression of gastric cancer. It was previously reported that H. pylori induced urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) expression and stimulated cell invasiveness in human gastric cancer AGS cells. However, the precise mechanisms for how H. pylori upregulates uPAR are unclear. This study investigated the underlying signal pathways in H. pylori-induced uPAR in human gastric cancer AGS cells. The intracellular H2O2 content, as determined using H2O2-sensitive probe 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein, increased after the H. pylori treatment. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), an antioxidant, prevented the H. pylori-induced production of H2O2 and uPAR expression. In addition, exogenous H2O2 was found to increase uPAR mRNA expression and its promoter activity. Site-directed mutagenesis of the potential NF-κB element in the uPAR promoter showed that the redox-sensitive transcription factor NF-κB was essential for H. pylori-induced uPAR expression. The expression of vectors encoding a mutated-type NF-κB-inducing kinase and I-κB, and a specific inhibitor of NF-κB (BAY11-7082) decreased the H. pylori-induced uPAR promoter activity. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and the electrophoretic mobility shift assay confirmed that H. pylori increased the DNA binding activity of NF-κB. With the aid of NAC and H2O2, it was determined that reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an upstream signaling molecule for activating the NF-κB induced by H. pylori. The enhanced AGS cell invasiveness by H. pylori was partially abrogated by an NAC and BAY11-7082 treatment. These results suggest that the ROS and NF-κB signaling pathway is important in H. pylori-induced uPAR expression and the increased cell invasiveness of human gastric cancer AGS cells.

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