Helicobacter pylori CagA oncoprotein interacts with SHIP2 to increase its delivery into gastric epithelial cells

Chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori cagA‐positive strains is causally associated with the development of gastric diseases, most notably gastric cancer. The cagA‐encoded CagA protein, which is injected into gastric epithelial cells by bacterial type IV secretion, undergoes tyrosine phosphorylation at the Glu‐Pro‐Ile‐Tyr‐Ala (EPIYA) segments (EPIYA‐A, EPIYA‐B, EPIYA‐C, and EPIYA‐D), which are present in various numbers and combinations in its C‐terminal polymorphic region, thereby enabling CagA to promiscuously interact with SH2 domain‐containing host cell proteins, including the prooncogenic SH2 domain‐containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (SHP2). Perturbation of host protein functions by aberrant complex formation with CagA has been considered to contribute to the development of gastric cancer. Here we show that SHIP2, an SH2 domain‐containing phosphatidylinositol 5′‐phosphatase, is a hitherto undiscovered CagA‐binding host protein. Similar to SHP2, SHIP2 binds to the Western CagA‐specific EPIYA‐C segment or East Asian CagA‐specific EPIYA‐D segment through the SH2 domain in a tyrosine phosphorylation‐dependent manner. In contrast to the case of SHP2, however, SHIP2 binds more strongly to EPIYA‐C than to EPIYA‐D. Interaction with CagA tethers SHIP2 to the plasma membrane, where it mediates production of phosphatidylinositol 3,4‐diphosphate [PI(3,4)P(2)]. The CagA‐SHIP2 interaction also potentiates the morphogenetic activity of CagA, which is caused by CagA‐deregulated SHP2. This study indicates that initially delivered CagA interacts with SHIP2 and thereby strengthens H. pylori‐host cell attachment by altering membrane phosphatidylinositol compositions, which potentiates subsequent delivery of CagA that binds to and thereby deregulates the prooncogenic phosphatase SHP2.