title: Detection of Helicobacteraceae in intestinal biopsies of children with Crohn's disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Given that members of Helicobacteraceae family colonize the intestinal mucus layer, it has been hypothesized that they may play a role in Crohn's disease. This study investigated the presence of Helicobacteraceae DNA in biopsies collected from children with Crohn's disease and controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  The presence of Helicobacteraceae DNA was investigated in intestinal biopsies collected from 179 children undergoing colonoscopy (Crohn's disease n = 77, controls n = 102) using a Helicobacteraceae-specific PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Members of the Helicobacteraceae were detected in 32/77 children with Crohn's disease (41.5%) and 23/102 controls (22.5%). Statistical analysis showed the prevalence of Helicobacteraceae detected in patients to be significantly higher than that in controls (p = .0062). Analysis of non-pylori Helicobacteraceae showed that their prevalence was also significantly higher in patients than in controls (p = .04). Helicobacter pylori was detected in 14.0% of the biopsies across all groups. Given that all children tested were negative for gastric H. pylori, this was a surprising finding. Phylogenetic analysis of H. pylori sequences detected in the biopsies showed that the H. pylori strains identified in the patients did not group with gastric H. pylori included in the analysis, but rather with other H. pylori strains detected in the intestine, gall bladder, and liver.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The higher prevalence of Helicobacteraceae DNA in Crohn's disease patients would suggest that members of this family may be involved in this disease. In addition, phylogenetic analysis of H. pylori strains showed that extragastric sequences clustered together, indicating that different H. pylori strains may adapt to colonize extragastric niches.
authors.affiliation: School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Nadeem O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Kaakoush
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Octavia
authors.forename: Si Ming
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Man
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Castaño-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Day
authors.forename: Steven T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Leach
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lemberg
authors.forename: Shoma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dutt
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stormon
authors.forename: Edward V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: O'Loughlin
authors.forename: Annabel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Magoffin
authors.forename: Hazel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001706:Biopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D016998:Helicobacter / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny