Comparison of five detection methods for Helicobacter pylori

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate which diagnostic test is preferable for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in patients with gastroduodenal disease. STUDY DESIGN: H pylori infection was diagnosed prospectively in 101 patients. Diagnosis of H pylori was made by tests based on five different principles: (1) culture, (2) direct histologic demonstration, (3) imprint cytology, (4) brushing cytology, and (5) gram staining of H pylori. Efficacy of each test was compared. RESULTS: All the tests were reliable for diagnosing H pylori infection; 73.3% of patients showed concordance in at least two tests. All the tests were positive in > 50% of patients. Significant concordance between brushing and imprint cytology was also determined. These two tests have almost similar specificity when compared to other tests. CONCLUSION: When patients undergo upper endoscopy, we recommend taking biopsy specimens for culture and histology. H pylori can be assessed equally well with all the tests, but imprint and brushing cytology have the advantage of rapid response, specificity, much lower cost and reproducibility.     

Comparative proteome analysis of Helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of gastritis, ulcer and stomach carcinoma, infects approximately half of the worlds population. After sequencing the complete genome of two strains, 26695 and J99, we have approached the demanding task of investigating the functional part of the genetic information containing macromolecules, the proteome. The proteins of three strains of H. pylori, 26695 and J99, and a prominent strain used in animal models SS1, were separated by a high-resolution two-dimensional electrophoresis technique with a resolution power of 5000 protein spots. Up to 1800 protein species were separated from H. pylori which had been cultivated for 5 days on agar plates. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) peptide mass fingerprinting we have identified 152 proteins, including nine known virulence factors and 28 antigens. The three strains investigated had only a few protein spots in common. We observe that proteins with an amino acid exchange resulting in a net change of only one charge are shifted in the two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) pattern. The expression of 27 predicted conserved hypothetical open reading frames (ORFs) and six unknown ORFs were confirmed. The growth conditions of the bacteria were shown to have an effect on the presence of certain proteins. A preliminary immunoblotting study using human sera revealed that this approach is ideal for identifying proteins of diagnostic or therapeutic value. H. pylori 2-DE patterns with their identified protein species were added to the dynamic 2D-PAGE database (http://www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/2D-PAGE/). This basic knowledge of the proteome in the public domain will be an effective instrument for the identification of new virulence or pathogenic factors, and antigens of potentially diagnostic or curative value against H. pylori.     

Comparative Genome Analysis of Helicobacter pylori Strains

DNA macroarrays were used to characterize 17 Helicobacter pylori strains isolated in four geographic regions of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, and Novosibirsk). Of all genes, 1272 (81%) proved to occur in all strains and to constitute a functional core of the genome, and 293 (18.7%) were strain-specific and greatly varied among the H. pylori strains. Most (71%) of the latter had unknown functions; the remainder included restriction–modification genes (3–9%), transposition genes (2–4%), and genes coding for outer membrane proteins (2–4%). The Russian H. pylori strains did not differ in genome organization or in the number and distribution of strain-specific genes from strains isolated in other countries.     

Comparative genome analysis of Helicobacter pylori strains

DNA macroarrays were used to characterize 17 Helicobacter pylori strains isolated in four geographic regions of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, and Novosibirsk). Of all genes, 1272 (81%) proved to occur in all strains and to constitute a functional core of the genome, and 293 (18.7%) were strain-specific and greatly varied among the H. pylori strains. Most (71%) of the latter had unknown functions; the remainder included restriction-modification genes (3-9%), transposition genes (2-4%), and genes coding for outer membrane proteins (2-4%). The Russian H. pylori strains did not differ in genome organization or in the number and distribution of strain-specific genes from strains isolated in other countries.     

Development of a PCR-based technique for detection of Helicobacter pylori

Abstract A primer-set was designed for specific detection of genes that encode for 16S rRNA of Helicobacter pylori , using direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The primers were selected in the hypervariable regions, derived from a complete small subunit 16S rRNA sequence of the reference strain H. pylori CCUG 17874. The primer-set amplified a 537 base pair (bp) sequence specifically from chromosomal H. pylori DNA. Amplification of purified chromosomal H. pylori DNA was achieved at concentrations as low as 1 femto gram (fg), equivalent to 5 bacteria. Furthermore, as few as 1 lysed H. pylori cell was detected by this PCR technique. The specificity of the primers was 100%, since purified chromosomal DNA was detected from all 32 various H. pylori isolates, whereas no other bacteria species were detected, whether related to Helicobacter or not. The 16S rDNA primers successfully detected H. pylori in antral biopsy specimens collected from infected patients.     

Comparative Analysis of Different Typing Methods for Helicobacter pylori Clinical Isolates

The goal of the present work was to compare different techniques of molecular typing using as an example clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori obtained from patients in different regions of Russia. DNA-macroarray genome scanning using individual genes was employed to set up our basic classification of isolates that did or did not contain pathogenicity islands. In parallel, DNA of the same isolates was used in the conventional random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR analysis, and the isolates were also genotyped (cagA, vacA, iceA, and babA status) and their proteomic maps were obtained by means of unidimensional SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (1D-SDS-PAGE) coupled with identification using peptide mass fingerprinting by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. A statistically significant correlation (coefficient of correlation r = 0.25, p = 0.005) was observed between the results of genome scanning and 1D-SDS-PAGE. No correlation was found between RAPD-PCR typing and genome scanning.     

Development of an immunochromatographic test system for the detection of Helicobacter pylori antigens

Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology - A test system based on immunochromatography in the sandwich format and intended for express detection of Helicobacter pylori antigens has been developed....     

幽门螺杆菌检测技术研究进展及展望

幽门螺杆菌是(Helicobacter pylori,H. pylori)是导致人类多种胃肠疾病的主要病因,通过多种毒力因子导致各种疾病的发生和发展。鉴于目前幽门螺杆菌缺少商业化疫苗且多重耐药性问题日益严重,临床上对其根除效果不佳,因此,精准的检测技术是预防幽门螺杆菌感染的关键,也是评估感染后治疗效果的重要手段。幽门螺杆菌的检测方法主要包括尿素呼气试验、快速尿素酶试验、粪便抗原检测、血清学检查、内镜检查、组织学病理检查、聚合酶链式反应及细菌培养,每种方法在临床上皆存在优点与局限性。目前,对于幽门螺杆菌检测的“金标准”尚无统一定论,因此本文重点综述当前应用的幽门螺杆菌检测技术,分析其优点和局限性,并指明精准、快速且便捷的检测技术在流行病学调查等方面具备的优势,旨在为临床和研究提供科学的参考依据。     

PCR detection of Helicobacter pylori in string-absorbed gastric juice

Molecular methods for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection have been shown to be highly sensitive in gastric biopsies and cultures. The objective of this work was to compare PCR detection of H. pylori DNA in string-absorbed gastric juice and in gastric biopsies. The study was performed in 47 dyspeptic adult patients undergoing endoscopy, and infection was detected by amplification of a segment of H. pylori ureA gene. Of the 29 patients positive in biopsy analysis, 23 (79%) were also positive in the gastric string. PCR analysis of gastric strings is a sensitive and safe procedure to detect H. pylori when endoscopy is not indicated, and may be of great clinical and epidemiological usefulness in determining effectiveness of eradication therapies, typing virulence genes and detecting antibiotic resistance mutations.     

Application of proteomics to the study of Helicobacter pylori and implications for the clinic

Introduction: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the gastric epithelium and mucous layer of more than half the world’s population. H. pylori is a primary human pathogen, responsible for the development of chronic gastritis, peptic ulceration and gastric cancer. Proteomics is impacting several aspects of medical research: understanding the molecular basis of infection and disease manifestation, identification of therapeutic targets and discovery of clinically relevant biomarkers.

Areas covered: The main aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the contribution of proteomics to the study of H. pylori infection pathophysiology. In particular, we focused on the role of the bacterium and its most important virulence factor, CagA, in the progression of gastric cells transformation and cancer progression. We also discussed the proteomic approaches aimed at the investigation of the host response to bacterial infection.

Expert commentary: In the field of proteomics of H. pylori, comprehensive analysis of clinically relevant proteins (functional proteomics) rather than entire proteomes will result in important medical outcomes. Finally, we provided an outlook on the potential development of proteomics in H. pylori research.     

Complementation system for Helicobacter pylori

Previously Langford et al. (2006) developed the pIR203C04 complementation system for Helicobacter pylori, which can be used to complement and restore phenotypic effects in H. pylori mutant, and furthermore they used the complementation system in vivo experiments to animals without altering the ability of strain SSI to colonize mice. In their previous study, the pIR203C04 was able to transform 26695, SSI, J99, and 43504 H. pylori strains by an electroporation method. However, in the present study using a natural transformation the pIR203C04 transformed only 26695 H. pylori but not SSI, J99, 7.13, and G27 H. pylori strains. Since the useful complementation system has a limitation of narrow selection among H. pylori strains, we redesigned the complementation system for the improvement. The same intergenic chromosomal site between hp0203 and hp0204 was utilized for the new complementation system because the insertion at the intergenic site didn’t show any polar effects and disruption of other H. pylori genes. The genome sequence analysis showed that the intergenic regions among H. pylori strains may have too low homology to each others to do a homologous recombination. Thus, in addition to the short intergenic region, the fragments of the new complementation system included 3′ conserved parts of hp0203 and hp0204 coding regions. Between the fragments there are a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase cassette and multicloning sites, resulting in pKJMSH. DNA fragment of the interest can be cloned into the multicloning sites of pKJMSH and the fragment can be integrated at the intergenic region of H. pylori chromosome by the homologous recombination. Indeed, by the natural transformation, pKJMSH was able to transform all five H. pylori strains of 26695, SSI, J99, 7.13, and G27, which are common for the investigation of molecular pathogenesis. Thus, the new pKJMSH complementation system is applicable to most H. pylori wild-type stains.