Objectives: To determine whether the genotypes of virulent genes in Helicobacter pylori isolates and mucosal biopsy specimens differ in individuals, and to investigate whether different isolates from single hosts show strain differences.
Methods: Sixty-one Korean patients with H. pylori infection were enrolled. PCR and DNA sequencing for cagA, vacA, iceA, and oipA were performed using DNA extracted from H. pylori isolates cultured (2.6 H. pylori isolates per host) directly from antral mucosal biopsy specimens. Strain diversities were analyzed in 234 H. pylori isolates obtained from 43 hosts with at least two H. pylori isolates from antrum and body, respectively, and random amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting was carried out on isolates obtained from patients who showed genotype diversity.
Results: The patients with inconsistent genotyping results between H. pylori isolates and mucosal biopsies were as follows: 16.4% for cagA, 19.7% for vacA m, 47.5% for vacA s1, 6.6% for vacA i-region, 34.4% for iceA, and 21.3% for oipA. Genotyping of H. pylori isolates from same hosts showed diversity in 58.1% (25/43 patients). When random amplified polymorphic DNA -PCR fingerprinting was carried out on 104 H. pylori isolates from 19 patients who showed genotype diversity among their isolates, 68.4% (13 of 19 patients) of patients were found to be colonized by multiple H. pylori strains.
Conclusion: This study shows that the genotypes of virulent genes from biopsy samples produced different results when compared with those obtained from H. pylori isolates, especially for vacA s1, and iceA. In addition, about 60% of our patients were infected by multiple H. pylori strains.