High correlation of babA 2-positive strains of Helicobacter pylori with the presence of gastric cancer.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a Gram-negative bacterium that is well known in the involvement of chronic inflammation in the gastric mucosa of the human stomach. Several studies have investigated the possible role of H. pylori presence in different gastroduodenal disorders with conflicting results. This study aimed to further investigate such a field. Helicobacter pylori strains were cultured from 160 patients (mean age of 42 years; range 15-75; 90 were male, and 70 were female) [40 gastric cancer (GC), 55 duodenal ulcer (DU) and 65 non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD)]. In this study, allelic variants of iceA 1, iceA 2 and babA 2 were identified by polymerase chain reaction. The overall prevalence of babA 2 gene was 40.6% (65/160). The prevalence of babA 2 gene was 95% with gastric cancer, 18.1% with duodenal ulcer and 26.1% with non ulcer dyspepsia, respectively. The prevalence of babA 2 in GC patients was significantly higher as compared to either NUD or UD patients (P = 0.0004), while no statistical significance was found between the latter two patient groups. Our study finds that babA 2 and iceA 1 genes are more prevalent in GC compared to either NUD or DU patients in Iran.