title: Detection of Helicobacter pylori virulence-associated genes.
abstract: Helicobacter pylori is an important human pathogen and persistent colonization of the human gastric mucosa can cause severe gastrointestinal diseases. The bacterium should not be considered as a uniform organism, but as a population of closely related and yet genetically diverse bacteria. Several genes of H. pylori (such as vacA and cagA) have been identified as being virulence-associated and may have important clinical and epidemiological implications. Assessment of virulence-associated genes of H. pylori should be included in clinical and epidemiological studies as well as therapeutic trials, in order to stratify between patient groups, harboring H. pylori strains with particular virulence genotypes. Molecular determination of antibiotic resistance will be especially useful for treatment studies. Together with our increasing knowledge about the human genome, typing of H. pylori will facilitate the management of gastroenterological pathologies.
authors.affiliation: Delft Diagnostic Laboratory, R. de Graafweg 7, 2625 AD Delft, The Netherlands. L.J.van.Doorn@ddl.nl
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: van Doorn
mesh_terms: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000483:Alleles; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014510:Urease / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; C400429:BabA protein, Helicobacter pylori; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C074689:VacA protein, Helicobacter pylori; C080866:cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori; C063113:ice nucleation protein; D014510:Urease