Detection and characterization of Helicobacter pylori from patients with gastroduodenal diseases

Polymerase chain reaction and cytotoxin assays were performed to identify as Helicobacter pylori type I (cagA(+)/ tox(+)) or type II (cagA(-)/tox(-)) 56 (59.6%) strains from 94 patients. Of these patients 64 were affected by nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD), 10 by gastric ulcer (GU), 19 by duodenal ulcer (DU), and 1 by both GU and DU. H. pylori strains were tested for cagA using two sets of primers; target sequences were detected in 40-42/56 (71.4-75%) depending on the set of primers used, while cytotoxin-producing strains (tox+) were 26/56 (46.4%). Tox(+) strains were isolated in 13/32 (40.6%), 2/7 (28.6%), and 11/17 (64.7%) in NUD, GU, and DU patients, respectively. However, the different percentage between cagA(+) strains from NUD patients (13/32; 40.6%) and patients with ulcerative diseases (13/23; 54.2%) is not statistically significant (p = 0.462). Because the two sets of primers employed for amplification of cagA target sequences give different results, we concluded that cagA alone could not be taken as predictive factor for severity of gastroduodenal disease. It has been found that H. pylori type I is associated with duodenal ulcer disease. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.