Published online Oct 15, 2003. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v9.i10.2258
Revised: June 5, 2003
Accepted: June 12, 2003
Published online: October 15, 2003
AIM: To determine the distribution of cagG gene of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) isolates cultured from patients with various digestive diseases and its relationship with gastroduodenal diseases.
METHODS: cagG was amplified by polymerase chain reaction in 145 H pylori isolates cultured from patients with chronic gastritis (n = 72), duodenal ulcer (n = 48), gastric ulcer (n = 17), or gastric and duodenal ulcer (n = 8), and the relationship between cagG status and the grade of gastric mucosal inflammation was determined.
RESULTS: cagG was present in 91.7% of the 145 H pylori isolates, with the rates were 90.3%, 93.8%, 88.2% and 100.0%, respectively, in those from patients with chronic gastritis, duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, and gastric and duodenal ulcer. There was no significant difference among the four groups (P > 0.05). The average grade of gastric mucosal inflammation in the antrum and corpus was 1.819 ± 0.325 and 1.768 ± 0.312, respectively in cagG positive patients, whereas the average inflammation grade was 1.649 ± 0.297, 1.598 ± 0.278 respectively in cagG negative cases (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: cagG gene of H pylori was quite conservative, and most H pylori strains in Chinese patients were cagG positive. cagG status was not related to clinical outcome or the degree of gastric mucosal inflammation. Therefore, cagG can not be used as a single marker for discrimination of H pylori strains with respect to a specific digestive disease.