Genotyping of cagA and vacA, Lewis antigen status, and analysis of the poly-(C) tract in the alpha(1,3)-fucosyltransferase gene of Irish Helicobacterpylori isolates

Much work has focused on trying to identify markers in Helicobacter pylori that might allow the eventual disease outcome of an infection to be predict ed. In this study we examined the cagA and vacA genotype, and Lewis status in a panel of 43 Irish H. pylori clinical isolates, and investigated a poss ible correlation with disease pathology. In addition, differences in the po ly-(C) tract of the alpha(1,3)-fucosyltransferase gene were examined to ide ntify a possible correlation with gene expression. Only three of 43 isolate s were cagA-negative, whereas the remaining 40 isolates, independent of pat hology, were cagA-positive. In all the strains we examined, the,vacA signal -sequence was type sla. For the vacA mid-region 12/43 isolates were type mi and 31/43 isolates were type m2. These data, and examination of isolates f rom different pathology groups, suggests that there is no correlation betwe en virulence and vacA genotype in the Irish population of H. pylori isolate s. Western blotting of whole cell lysates from 32 H, pylori isolates showed 3/32 displayed only the Le(x) epitope, 12/32 only the Le(y), 13/32 both ep itopes and 4/32 neither epitope. No apparent association between Lewis phen otype and disease pathology was evident. A range of lengths of poly-(C) tra ct were observed in the alpha(1,3)-fucosyltransferase gene, however the len gth of the tract in an isolate did not correlate with the Lewis structures present. We conclude that future studies on H, pylori pathogenesis should n ot alone focus on the importance of molecular markers, but also on the host response, including genetic background and immune responsiveness. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Sc ience B.V, All rights reserved.