title: Detection of Helicobacter pylori urease antigen in saliva in patients with different gastric H. pylori status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Finding a simple, accurate, and noninvasive diagnosis method is a substantial challenge for the detection of Helicobacter pylori. The aim of the present study was to compare the presence of H. pylori urease antigen in saliva with the presence of this bacterium in gastric mucosa.
  
  
  METHODS
  Saliva samples and gastric biopsies were taken from 153 consenting Moroccan patients. Saliva samples were analyzed using an immunochromatographic test for urease antigen H. pylori detection. Thereafter, the gastric biopsies were analyzed by histology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect this bacterium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From a total of 153 recruited Moroccan patients, H. pylori was detected in 28 (18.30%), 87 (57.24%), and 69 (45.10%) cases by saliva test, histology, and PCR, respectively. A significant association was observed between the presence of H. pylori antigen in saliva and age. However, no association was found with sex, H. pylori virulence factors, gastric disease outcome, and density of the bacterium on the gastric mucosa. Considering that only 90 patients presented concordant results on H. pylori diagnosis (positive or negative) by both histology and PCR, the immunochromatographic test showed very low sensitivity (29.79%) and high specificity (90.70%). Of these two tests, the positive and negative predictive values were 77.78% and 54.17%, respectively. The accuracy of the test for salivary detection of urease antigen H. pylori was 58.89%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated a low detection rate of H. pylori antigens in saliva compared with the presence of this bacterium in gastric mucosa, suggesting that saliva cannot be used as a suitable sample for the diagnosis of H. pylori in our study population.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie et de Biologie Moléculaire, Equipe Micro-organismes Génomique et Facteurs Oncogènes, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Fès (FMPF), Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (USMBA), Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences Dhar el Mehraz, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mounia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Khadir
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie et de Biologie Moléculaire, Equipe Micro-organismes Génomique et Facteurs Oncogènes, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Fès (FMPF), Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (USMBA), Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Samia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alaoui Boukhris
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hépato Gastro-entérologie CHU Hassan II de Fès, Equipe Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (FMPF), Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Pathologie Humaine, Biomédecine et Environnement, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Dafr-Allah
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Benajah
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Epidémiologie et de Recherche Clinique, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Karima
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: El Rhazi
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hépato Gastro-entérologie CHU Hassan II de Fès, Equipe Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (FMPF), Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Pathologie Humaine, Biomédecine et Environnement, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Sidi Adil
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ibrahimi
authors.affiliation: Service d'Hépato Gastro-entérologie CHU Hassan II de Fès, Equipe Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (FMPF), Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Pathologie Humaine, Biomédecine et Environnement, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Abkari
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Pathologie Humaine, Biomédecine et Environnement, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco; Service d'Anatomie Pathologique CHU Hassan II, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Taoufiq
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harmouch
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Epidémiologie et de Recherche Clinique, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Chakib
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nejjari
authors.affiliation: Service de Bactériologie CHU Hassan II, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mustapha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences Dhar el Mehraz, USMBA, Fez, Morocco.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benlemlih
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Microbiologie et de Biologie Moléculaire, Equipe Micro-organismes Génomique et Facteurs Oncogènes, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie de Fès (FMPF), Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah (USMBA), Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Biotechnologie, Faculté des Sciences Dhar el Mehraz, USMBA, Fez, Morocco; Laboratoire de Pathologie Humaine, Biomédecine et Environnement, FMPF, USMBA, Fez, Morocco. Electronic address: bahia.bennani@usmba.ac.ma.
authors.forename: Bahia
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bennani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D014510:Urease / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D014510:Urease
keywords: H. pylori diagnosis; H. pylori urease antigen; PCR–histology; saliva