Prevalence of duodenal ulcer-promoting gene (dupA) of Helicobacter pylori in patients with duodenal ulcer in North Indian population

Background: The duodenal ulcer (DU)-promoting gene (dupA) of Helicobacter pylori has been identified as a novel virulent marker associated with an increased risk for DU. The presence or absence of dupA gene of H. pylori present in patients with DU and functional dyspepsia in North Indian population was studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and hybridization analysis. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty-six patients (96 DU and 70 functional dyspepsia) were included in this study. In addition, sequence diversity of dupA gene of H. pylori found in these patients was analyzed by sequencing the PCR products jhp0917 and jhp0918 on both strands with appropriate primers. Results: PCR and hybridization analyses indicated that dupA gene was present in 37.5% (36/ 96) of H. pylori strains isolated from DU patients and 22.86% (16/ 70) of functional dyspepsia patients (p =.05). Of these, 35 patients with DU (97.2%) and 14 patients with functional dyspepsia (81.25%) were infected by H. pylori positive for cagA genotype. Furthermore, the presence of dupA was significantly associated with the cagA-positive genotype (p =.02). Conclusion: Results of our study have shown that significant association of dupA gene with DU in this population. The dupA gene can be considered as a novel virulent marker for DU in this population.