title: Detection of Helicobacter species DNA by quantitative PCR in the gastrointestinal tract of healthy individuals and of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
abstract: In many animal species different intestinal Helicobacter species have been described and a few species are associated with intestinal infection. In humans, the only member of the Helicobacter family which is well described in literature is Helicobacter pylori. No other Helicobacter-associated diseases have definitely been shown in humans. We developed a sensitive quantitative PCR to investigate whether Helicobacter species DNA can be detected in the human gastrointestinal tract. We tested gastric biopsies (including biopsies from H. pylori positive persons), intestinal mucosal biopsies and fecal samples from healthy persons, and intestinal mucosal biopsies from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) for the presence of Helicobacter species. All gastric biopsies, positive for H. pylori by culture, were also positive in our newly developed PCR. No Helicobacter species were found in the mucosal biopsies from patients with IBD (n = 50) nor from healthy controls (n = 25). All fecal samples were negative. Our study suggests that Helicobacter species, other than H. pylori, are not present in the normal human gastrointestinal flora and our results do not support a role of Helicobacter species in IBD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, VU University Medical Center, P.O. Box 7507, 1007 MB Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Xander W
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Huijsdens
authors.forename: Ronald K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Linskens
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koppes
authors.forename: Yuan Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Stephan G M
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Meuwissen
authors.forename: Christina M J E
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Vandenbroucke-Grauls
authors.forename: Paul H M
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Savelkoul
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D016998:Helicobacter / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial