EVALUATION OF 16S RIBOSOMAL-RNA GENE PCR WITH PRIMERS HP1 AND HP2 FORDETECTION OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI

The PCR primer set Hp1-Hp2, which amplifies a 109-bp fragment of the 1 6S rRNA gene of Helicobacter pylori, has been widely used for the dete ction of H. pylori in clinical specimens. We have examined 34 stool sa mples and 50 human tissue samples from H. pylori-infected and uninfect ed patients, five human leukocyte samples, and one human cell line by this PCR method. All of these specimens produced a 109-bp PCR product, When Escherichia coli DNA was used as the template, several nonspecif ic hands, but not the 109-bp band, were observed. No PCR products were generated when DNA samples from five different fungi were used as tem plates, These results indicate that this 109-bp PCR product was amplif ied from the human genome. The 109-bp PCR product generated from vario us clinical specimens also hybridized with the probe pHp, correspondin g to a region internal to the PCR product of Hp1-Hp2, We conclude that the 16S rRNA gene PCR with the primer set Hp1-Hp2 is not specific and cannot be used to detect H. pylori in clinical specimens.