Association between the presence and genotype of Helicobacter pylori and periodontitis

Rong Li; Yuxiao Luo; Qin Dong; Yuqing Yin; Yiwei Ma; Jiayu Pan; Yaping Pan; Dongmei Zhang

doi:10.3892/etm.2023.12188

Association between the presence and genotype of Helicobacter pylori and periodontitis

Exp Ther Med. 2023 Sep 4;26(4):489. doi: 10.3892/etm.2023.12188. eCollection 2023 Oct.

Authors

Rong Li¹, Yuxiao Luo², Qin Dong², Yuqing Yin², Yiwei Ma², Jiayu Pan¹, Yaping Pan², Dongmei Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontology, Shenzhen Stomatological Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, P.R. China.
² Department of Periodontology, School of Stomatology, China Medical University, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Disease, Shenyang, Liaoning 110002, P.R. China.
³ Department of Periodontics and Oral Biology, School and Hospital of Stomatology, China Medical University, Liaoning Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Disease, Shenyang, Liaoning 110002, P.R. China.

Abstract

Whether Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is associated with periodontitis has been contested for decades. The relationship between H. pylori genotypes and periodontitis has not been clarified either. The present study provides a novel perspective to better understand the role of H. pylori in the pathogenesis of periodontitis. A total of 53 volunteers were recruited and divided into 3 groups in this cross-sectional study, namely the periodontally healthy group (15 participants), the stage I/II periodontitis group (20 participants) and the stage III/IV periodontitis group (18 participants). DNA from the subgingival plaque of all participants was extracted and PCR was performed using specific primers for the urease C gene and cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA)/vacuolating cytotoxin gene A (vacA) to detect the presence and genotype of H. pylori. A χ² test and one-way ANOVA were performed on the data. There was no significant difference in sex, age or body mass index between the groups. The detection rate of H. pylori was 39.62% in the total population and increased with the deepening of probing depth and clinical attachment loss. There were significant differences in the detection rate of H. pylori among the three groups, with 13.33, 40.00 and 61.11% in the periodontally healthy, stage I/II periodontitis and stage III/IV periodontitis groups, respectively (χ²=8.760, P<0.001). The cagA^-/vacAs2m2 genotype was most commonly detected in the periodontally healthy group (100%). In the periodontitis group, cagA⁺/vacAs1m2 was the most commonly detected genotype in the stage I/II periodontitis group (37.5%) and cagA⁺/vacAs1m1 in the stage III/IV periodontitis group (36.3%). The results of the present study suggest that the detection rates and genotypes of H. pylori in the subgingival plaque are associated with the status of periodontitis. cagA⁺/vacAs1m1 and cagA⁺/vacAs1m2 may be considered virulence markers of periodontitis. However, given the small sample size and lack of correlation analysis of the study, further larger scale and high-quality clinical trials are required to confirm these findings.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; periodontitis; subgingival plaque; virulence genotypes.

Grants and funding

Funding: The present study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81970943).