Transcriptional alteration of genes linked to gastritis concerning Helicobacter pylori infection status and its virulence factors

Background and Aim : Helicobacter pylori infection and heterogeneity in its pathogenesis could describe diversity in the expression of inflammatory genes in the gastric tissue. We aimed to investigate the transcriptional alteration of genes linked to gastritis concerning the H. pylori infection status and its virulence factors. Methods : Biopsy samples of ۱۲ infected and ۱۲ non-infected patients with H. pylori that showed moderate chronic gastritis were selected for transcriptional analysis. Genotyping of H. pylori strains was done using PCR and relative expression of inflammatory genes was compared between the infected and non-infected patients using relative quantitative real-time PCR. Results : Positive correlations between transcriptional changes of IL۸ with TNF-α and Noxo۱ in the infected and TNF-α with Noxo۱, MMP۷, and Atp۴A in the non-infected patients were detected. Six distinct genotypes of H. pylori were detected that showed no correlation with gender, ethnicity, age, endoscopic findings, and transcriptional levels of host genes. Irrespective of the characterized genotypes, our results showed overexpression of TNF-α, MMP۷, Noxo۱, and ATP۴A in the infected and IL-۸, Noxo۱, and ATP۴A in the non-infected patients. Conclusion : Complexity in the transcription of genes respective to the characterized H. pylori genotypes in the infected patients was detected in our study. The observed difference in co-regulation of genes linked to gastritis in the infected and non-infected patients proposed the involvement of different regulatory pathways in the inflammation of the gastric tissue in the studied groups.