%0 Journal Article %A Leunk, R. D. %A Johnson, P. T. %A David, B. C. %A Kraft, W. G. %A Morgan, D. R. %T Cytotoxic activity in broth-culture filtrates of Campylobacter pylori %D 1988 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 26 %N 2 %P 93-99 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00222615-26-2-93 %I Microbiology Society, %X SUMMARY Broth-culture filtrates of Campylobacter pylori induced non-lethal cytopathic effects in vitro in 7 of 9 mammalian cell lines tested. Transmission electronmicroscopy revealed that the response consisted of intracellular vacuolisation. Intestine 407 cells were among the most responsive and were used for routine assay. About 55% of isolates of C. pylori tested, originating from four geographic regions worldwide, produced cytotoxic activity. The activity was neutralisable by specific antisera to broth-culture filtrates or to sonicated bacteria but not by antisera to other bacterial preparations. Cytotoxic activity was heat-labile (70°C for 30 min), was protease-sensitive and ammonium-sulphate precipitable. It did not pass through an ultrafiltration membrane with a nominal mol.-wt limit of 100 × 103. It was concluded that C. pylori can produce a factor that alters cultured cells in vitro. The relevance of this factor to the pathogenesis of gastritis associated with C. pylori remains to be determined. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/00222615-26-2-93