The association between iceA and vacA allelic gene variations of Helicobacter pylori strains and gastric disorders

Helicobacter pylori is a causative agent of gastric disorders and associated with gastric adenocarcinoma. Different kind of gene products such as induced by contact with epithelium (iceA), vacuolating cytotoxin (vacA), and cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA) confers the ability to this bacterium to destroy gastric cells and can lead to gastric cancer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency and association of iceA and vacA allelic genes variations of H. pylori strains and gastric disorders. This cross-sectional study included 90 nonduplicated H. pylori isolates from gastric biopsy of 300 patients in the north of Iran. DNA was extracted from all isolated strains and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to determine the prevalence of iceA and vacA genes allelic variants. In overall, from 90 samples of H. pylori iceA, vacA s1/s2, vacA m1 and vacA m2 genes were detected in 68.9%, 33.3%, 53.3%, and 37.8% of patients, respectively. Regard to the distribution of the virulence genes, the co-occurrence of iceA/vacA m1 (20%) was the most prevalent genotype followed by iceA (14.4%) and iceA/vacA m2 (10%). In summary, as a first reports from Guilan province in the north of Iran we showed the association of iceA and vacA allelic variations in different types of gastric disorders. In this regard, we found a significant association between the presence of iceA/vacA m1 genotype and gastric diseases.