Klin Onkol 2004; 17(4): 123-126.
Abstract: Based on the wide range of studies, Helicobacter pylori was declared to be a Ist class cancerogenic agent. However, the association between HP and gastric cancer is not so clear. Based on their cytokine production, the HP strains can be divided into two groups: the strains producing vacuolating toxin Vac A and cytotoxin Cag A bound protein (group I) and the strains not producing cytoxins (group II). There are compelling evidences of the dominant role of the group I strains in the gastritis development. Using Elisa and western blot methods, we explored HP antibodies in the sample of gastric cancer patients (n=65) and controls (n=35). Compared with the controls, there is significantly higher prevalence of invasive HP strains antibodies in the samples of the cancer patients. We failed to detect the statistically signficant association between the prevalence of the aggresive HP strains antibodies and the localization of the carcinoma or histological type, respectively. These findings are likely influenced by a small number of patients in the study. Nevertheless, the strains producing cytotoxins may be considerable for the pathogenesis. As far as we know, no similar study has been published in the Czech literature.
