Identification and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori virulencegenes; babA and cagA in Wolinella spp. of the oral cavity of dogs

Background and Aim : It has been indicated that dental calculi and the oral cavity discharge ofdogs play a major role as the reservoir of Helicobacteraceae infections in the gastrointestinal tract.Regarding close contact between humans and their companion animals, immediate diagnosis andadequate treatment of Helicobacteraceae infections should be considered from the aspect of thezoonotic risk and public health. Wolinella spp. and Helicobacter spp. have been repeatedlyreported in the oral cavity of dogs and are associated with periodontal diseases. Compared toHelicobacter spp., Wolinella strains are the predominant organisms in the oral cavity of dogs. Theonly known species of this genus, Wolinella succinogenes, was considered nonpathogenic untilsequence analysis of its genome revealed homologous genes resembling virulence factors in H.pylori. This has led researchers to question the nonpathogenic status of W. succinogenes. CagAand BabA are examples of crucial virulence factors in H. pylori pathogenesis. We aimed toevaluate the prevalence of these genera in addition to assessing the genome of the Wolinella strainsin terms of the presence of the mentioned virulence factors.Methods : For the present study, multiple specific PCR tests were performed on oral secretionsamples collected from ۶۲ dogs by sterile cytobrush to evaluate the genera, species, and presenceof mentioned virulence genes.Results : The species-specific ۱۶s rRNA genes of the genus Helicobacter and Wolinella weredetected in ۵۸.۰۶% and ۸۳.۸۷% of oral samples of dogs, respectively. Helicobacter pylori werenot detected in our specimens. We did not detect cagA and babA genes in the genome of Wolinellaspp. as well as non-pylori Helicobacters.Conclusion : In conclusion, our result confirmed that Wolinella spp. has a predominant populationcompared to the Helicobacter organisms in the oral cavity of dogs, and apparently the incidenceof Helicobacter infections is generally associated with Non-pylori Helicobacters. Despite thehypothesis of great genomic homology between Wolinella succinogenes and Helicobacter pylori,the cagA and babA virulence genes were not identified in any of the oral samples of dogs.

کلیدواژه ها:

Wolinella succinogenes ، Helicobacter pylori ، baba ، caga