Prevalence of some Helicobacter pylori virulence genes such vacA, oipA and dupA in Iraqi patients

Development of H. pylori-associated diseases is determined by a number of virulence factors. So, numerous molecular studies performed about the frequency of its virulence genes in infected patients. To evaluate the prevalence of some H. pylori virulence genes such vacA, oipA and dupA in some Iraqi infected patients. A total of 105 patients suffering from gastritis, clinical manifestations of dyspepsia or burning, vomiting, bloating and others symptoms, with age ranged 17-85 years who attended the Gastroenterology and Hepaetology Teaching Centre, Baghdad - Iraq. They were diagnosed through physicians according to endoscopic findings. Further biopsy samples from different places of stomach were collected by gastroenterologists from each patient, used for histopathological examination and genetic detection of virulence genes (vacA, dupA and oipA) by PCR technique. The result showed that histological study pointed, 78(74.2%) positive for H.pylori, then PCR technique applied on these positive samples to detect the presence of virulence genes which found, VacA gene was the most prevalent 73(93.5%) of positive samples, followed by oipA gene 42(53.8%) and dupA 25(32.05%). The study revealed a significant association between virulence genes and development of certain form of gastric infections. So, detection of the H. pylori virulence genes in gastric biopsy samples can be provides a clear prognosis of clinical outcomes.