J. Celik et al., VIRULENCE AND COLONIZATION-ASSOCIATED PROPERTIES OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI ISOLATED FROM CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS, The Journal of infectious diseases, 177(1), 1998, pp. 247-252
Helicobacter pylori isolates from 32 children and adolescents were cha
racterized with respect to putative virulence and colonization-associa
ted properties. Only 3 of the subjects had duodenal ulcer, All but 2 o
f the remaining 29 had various degrees of chronic gastric inflammation
. No significant correlation between degree of inflammation and presen
ce of the cag-pathogenicity island, cytotoxin production, vacA alleles
associated with cytotoxin expression, and binding ability to the Lewi
s(b) (Le(b)) oligosaccharide was found, Only 4 isolates expressed the
Le(b)-specific adhesin, of which 3 were also cag region-positive. This
is in contrast to adults with gastritis or peptic ulcer disease (or b
oth), in whom most of the H. pylori isolates bind Le(b). In an in situ
binding assay H, pylori were less able to adhere to gastric surface m
ucous cells in biopsies taken from children compared with adults, sugg
esting a lower expression of the Le(b) oligosaccharide in the children
.