Background
This study aims to evaluate the seroprevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) proteins involved in its pathogenicity among H. pylori infected patients.
Research design and methods
The analyses were based on 272 serums from H. pylori IgM-positive dyspeptic patients. H. pylori GroEL, FliD, HpaA, gGT, CagA, VacA, NapA, CtkA, HtrA, and HP0231 proteins was detected using multiplex serology method. The detected H. pylori antigens were classified as antigens for colonization, chaperone systems, immunomodulatory factors and toxins/effectors delivery/T4SS-related support factors.
Results
H. pylori CagA, VacA, FliD, HpaA, GroEL gGT, HtrA, HP0231, CtkA, and NapA proteins were present in 97.1, 77.2, 77.2, 73.2, 61, 34.2, 25.4, 18.8, 11.4, and 9.9%. Antigens involved in colonization, immune response, proteins chaperone, and toxins/effectors and T4SS-related support factors were detected in 81.9%, 19.8%, 70.5%, and 10.6%, respectively. Significant high sensitivity of virulence antigens was recorded among patients aged more than 20 years old, those from west region, male, blood group O, and overweight/obese patients.
Conclusion
Our results showed that H. pylori strains in our milieu have a strong ability to colonize the gastric mucosa, but a low carcinogenic potential due to the scarcity of the proteins modulating the detrimental effect of CagA/VacA proteins.