Helicobacter pylori VacA and Gastric Cancer

Lee, Jun Ho; Kim, Hak Yang; Bae, Young Deok; Park, Sung Hoon; Shin, Woon Geon; Kim, Auk; Kim, Jin Bong; Lee, Jin Heon; Kim, Yong Bum; Yoo, Jae Young

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS
Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant disease worldwide, particularly in Korean populations, but its etiology is not well-established. The infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of gastroduodenal diseases and recent studies have focused on whether specific H. pylori strains are associated with gastric carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether VacA seropositivity is associated with increased risk of gastric cancer in Korean populations.
METHODS
Gastroduodenoscopy was done in patients with upper gastrointestinal complaints. During the examination, rapid urease test for the presence of H. pylori infection was done using gastric biopsy specimens taken from normal gastric antrum. Sera were collected from 20 chronic gastritis and 23 gastric cancer patients with H. pylori infection. Western blotting was carried out using a commercially prepared kit-Helicoblot 2.0.
RESULTS
VacA seropositivity was 35% (8/23) in patients with gastric cancer and 55% (11/20) in patients with chronic gastritis (p=0.15). According to Lauren classification of gastric cancer, the numbers of patients with the intestinal and diffuse type were 12 and 11, respectively. VacA seropositivity was 25% (3/12) in patients with the intestinal type and 45.4% (5/11) in patients with the diffuse type (p=0.30).
CONCLUSIONS
The infection with VacA positive H. pylori strain is not associated with increasing risk of gastric cancer in Korean populations.