Helicobacter pylori hrgA, A Novel Discriminatory Biomarker for Duodenal Ulcer Patients

Helicobacter pylori is a major human gastric for various gastro duodenal diseases. A number of putative virulence factors such as dupA, homB, tnpA have been described. To date, none were found to be significantly associated with specific H. pylorirelated diseases (e.g. gastric cancer and duodenal ulcer). the primary aim of this study was to test the H. pylori hrgA genotype isolated from 253 Iranian symptomatic patients to investigate possible association with clinical outcomes. The positive culture results were confirmed by glmM (genetic control for H. pylori) PCR assay. The results showed hrgAgene was detected in 44/253 strains (17.3%). Prevalence of the hrgA gene was relatively high in strains isolated from duodenal ulcer patients (P 0.0063; Odd ratio: 3.54; CI 95%: 1.42-8.77). In contrast our findings showed that the prevalence of hrgA in our control group (gastritis patients) was 22.7% (P>0.05). Conclusively, hrgA gene is a good candidate as a discriminatory biomarker for patients with duodenal ulcer