BMC Gastroenterology (Aug 2012)

Higher frequency of cagA EPIYA-C Phosphorylation Sites in <it>H. pylori</it> strains from first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients

  • Queiroz Dulciene MM,
  • Silva Cícero ISM,
  • Goncalves Maria HRB,
  • Braga-Neto Manuel B,
  • Fialho Andréa BC,
  • Fialho André MN,
  • Rocha Gifone A,
  • Rocha Andreia MC,
  • Batista Sérgio A,
  • Guerrant Richard L,
  • Lima Aldo AM,
  • Braga Lucia LBC

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-230X-12-107
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
p. 107

Abstract

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Abstract Background To evaluate the prevalence of more virulent H. pylori genotypes in relatives of gastric cancer patients and in patients without family histories of gastric cancer. Methods We evaluated prospectively the prevalence of the infection by more virulent H. pylori strains in 60 relatives of gastric cancer patients comparing the results with those obtained from 49 patients without family histories of gastric cancer. H. pylori status was determined by the urease test, histology and presence of H. pylori ureA. The cytotoxin associated gene (cagA), the cagA-EPIYA and vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) were typed by PCR and the cagA EPIYA typing was confirmed by sequencing. Results The gastric cancer relatives were significant and independently more frequently colonized by H. pylori strains with higher numbers of CagA-EPIYA-C segments (OR = 4.23, 95%CI = 1.53–11.69) and with the most virulent s1m1 vacA genotype (OR = 2.80, 95%CI = 1.04–7.51). Higher numbers of EPIYA-C segments were associated with increased gastric corpus inflammation, foveolar hyperplasia and atrophy. Infection by s1m1 vacA genotype was associated with increased antral and corpus gastritis. Conclusions We demonstrated that relatives of gastric cancer patients are more frequently colonized by the most virulent H. pylori cagA and vacA genotypes, which may contribute to increase the risk of gastric cancer.

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