Inflammatory gene profiles in human gastric mucosa

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is associated with an inflammatory response in the gastric mucosa, ultimately leading to cellular hyperproliferation and malignant transformation. Hitherto, only expression of a single gene, or a limited number of genes, has been investigated in infected patients. Thus, the impact of H. pylori on the expression of a broad set of genes has not yet been analyzed. cDNA arrays were therefore used to establish the global pattern of gene expression in gastric tissue of healthy subjects and of H. pylori infected patients. Two main gene expression profiles were identified based on cluster analysis. The data obtained suggest a strong involvement of selected Toll-like receptors (TLRs)3, adhesion molecules, chemokines, and interleukins in the mucosal response. This pattern is clearly different from that observed using gastric epithelial cell lines infected in vitro with H. pylori. The genotype of the bacteria (presence of genes encoding CagA, VacA and BabA) was analyzed by PCR and shown to be associated with different expression profiles. The presence of a Keywords = H. pylori Keywords = gastric inflammation Keywords = cytokines Keywords: parallel sample