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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 7, 2015; 21(37): 10563-10572
Published online Oct 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i37.10563
What exists beyond cagA and vacA? Helicobacter pylori genes in gastric diseases
Débora Menezes da Costa, Eliane dos Santos Pereira, Silvia Helena Barem Rabenhorst
Débora Menezes da Costa, Eliane dos Santos Pereira, Silvia Helena Barem Rabenhorst, Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Ceará 60430-270, Brazil
Author contributions: da Costa DM and Pereira ES contributed equally to this work and wrote the paper; Rabenhorst SHB designed the study and revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Silvia Helena Barem Rabenhorst, Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Federal University of Ceará, Coronel Nunes de Melo Street, 1315 - Rodolfo Teófilo - Fortaleza, Ceará 60430-270, Brasil. srabenhorst@yahoo.com.br
Telephone: +55-85-99945689 Fax: +55-85-32673840
Received: April 23, 2015
Peer-review started: April 24, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 13, 2015
Accepted: August 25, 2015
Article in press: August 25, 2015
Published online: October 7, 2015
Processing time: 158 Days and 15.6 Hours
Abstract

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is present in more than half the world’s population and has been associated with several gastric disorders, such as gastritis, peptic ulceration, and gastric adenocarcinoma. The clinical outcome of this infection depends on host and bacterial factors where H. pylori virulence genes seem to play a relevant role. Studies of cagA and vacA genes established that they were determining factors in gastric pathogenesis. However, there are gastric cancer cases that are cagA-negative. Several other virulence genes have been searched for, but these genes remain less well known that cagA and vacA. Thus, this review aimed to establish which genes have been suggested as potentially relevant virulence factors for H. pylori-associated gastrointestinal diseases. We focused on the cag-pathogenicity island, genes with adherence and motility functions, and iceA based on the relevance shown in several studies in the literature.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Virulence genes; Cag-pathogenicity island; Motility genes; Adhesion genes

Core tip:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is present in more than half the world’s population and has been associated with several gastric disorders. The clinical outcome of this infection depends on host and bacterial factors. Studies have established that cagA and vacA H. pylori genes are determining factors in gastric pathogenesis. This review aimed to examine which genes have been suggested as potentially relevant virulence factors for H. pylori, focusing on the cag-pathogenicity island, adherence and motility genes, and iceA based on the relevance shown in several studies.