IM - ORIGINAL Prevalence of horB gene among the Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from dyspeptic patients: first report from Iran Tarang Taghvaei • Amin Talebi Bezmin Abadi • Ali Ghasemzadeh • Behnam Kalali Naderi • Ashraf Mohabbati Mobarez Received: 24 February 2011 / Accepted: 22 April 2011 Ó SIMI 2011 Abstract Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is globally accepted as an important cause of gastritis in human, and evidence strongly shows an etiological role for H. pylori in gastric cancer and peptic ulceration. In this study, we determined the relationship between digestive diseases and the horB gene of H. pylori infection. Fresh antral biopsy specimens were obtained from 140 dyspeptic patients (67 men and 73 women; mean age 41.5, aged 19–63 years). They were examined for presence of the horB gene of H. pylori clinical isolates. Bacterial DNA content was extracted directly from the antral biopsy. Statistical anal- ysis was performed with SPSS version 16.0. Prevalence of the horB gene in H. pylori isolated from patients with gastric cancer, gastric ulcer, gastritis and duodenal ulcer is (5/32) 15.6%, (4/25) 16%, (30/43) 70%, and (9/40) 22.5%, respectively. No significant relationship is observed between age, pathologic findings and gender factors with respect to the four digestive diseases (P [ 0.05). In our examination, a significant association was observed between a horB positive genotype of H. pylori and the occurrence of gastritis; in support of the protective theory. Studies with a higher sample size in different countries of the world should be conducted to obtain a thorough assessment as to whether horB has a role in the progress of gastritis (protective effect) or not. Further tests should be carried out to determine the exact role of horB in infection of H. pylori. Keywords Helicobacter pylori Á Horb Á Gastritis Á Iran Introduction Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a microaerophilic, spiral, gram-negative bacteria found in the gastric mucosa of humans. The prevalence of H. pylori infection is more than 50% worldwide; this rate is close to 85% in developing countries. Generally, H. pylori-induced chronic gastritis remains asymptomatic, but potentially it can progress to various severe gastrointestinal disorders. Recently, on the basis of molecular and genetic experiments, different aspects of H. pylori pathogenesis were elucidated, though some factors are still unknown [1]. H. pylori adhesion proteins are considered virulence factors contributing to bacterial adherence to gastric epi- thelial cells [2, 3]. Successful colonization of H. pylori in the gastrointestinal tract can result in more severe gastro- duodenal disorders such as gastritis, duodenal ulcer, gastric cancer, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma) [4]. Adherence and colonization are two criti- cal steps in H. pylori infections [4, 5]. OipA, SabA, and BabA as adhesion of H. pylori strains, can facilitate the specific host-bacteria adherence during the pathogenesis process [2]. Variation in clinical presentations has been attributed to diversity in bacterial genotypes and host A. Talebi Bezmin Abadi Á A. Mohabbati Mobarez (&) Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, PO Box 14115-111 Tehran, Iran e-mail: mmmobarez@modares.ac.ir T. Taghvaei Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran A. Ghasemzadeh Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA B. K. Naderi Department of Medicine II, Laboratory of Gastroenterology III, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany 123 Intern Emerg Med DOI 10.1007/s11739-011-0614-7