@article{10902/5982,
year = {2015},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10902/5982},
abstract = {Background and Aim

Several biological and epidemiological studies support a relationship between smoking and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) to increase the risk of pathology. However, there have been few studies on the potential synergistic association between specific cagA and vacA virulence factors and smoking in patients infected by Helicobacter pylori. We studied the relationship between smoking and cagA, vacA i1 virulence factors and bacterial load in H. pylori infected patients.

Methods

Biopsies of the gastric corpus and antrum from 155 consecutive patients in whom there was clinical suspicion of infection by H. pylori were processed. In 106 patients H. pylori infection was detected. Molecular methods were used to quantify the number of microorganisms and presence of cagA and vacA i1 genes. A standardized questionnaire was used to obtain patients’ clinical data and lifestyle variables, including tobacco and alcohol consumption. Adjusted Odds Ratios (ORadjusted) were estimated by unconditional logistic regression.

Results

cagA was significantly associated with active-smoking at endoscope: ORadjusted 4.52. Evidence of association was found for vacA i1 (ORadjusted 3.15). Bacterial load was higher in active-smokers, although these differences did not yield statistical significance (median of 262.2 versus 79.4 copies of H. pylori per cell).

Conclusions

The association between smoking and a higher risk of being infected by a virulent bacterial population and with higher bacterial load, support a complex interaction between H. pylori infection and environmental factors.},
publisher = {Public Library of Science},
publisher = {PLoS One. 2015 Mar 20;10(3):e0120444},
title = {Relationship between tobacco, cagA and vacA i1 virulence factors and bacterial load in patients infected by Helicobacter pylori},
author = {Santibáñez Margüello, Miguel and Aguirre Díaz, Estefanía and Belda Gas, Sofía and Aragonés Sanz, Nuria and Saez Parra, Jesús and Rodríguez Díaz, Juan Carlos and Galiana Cabrera, Antonio J. and Sola-Vera Sánchez, Francisco Javier and Ruiz García, Montserrat and Paz Zulueta, María and Sarabia Lavín, Raquel and Brotons Brotons, Alicia and López Girona, Elena and Pérez Rabasco, Estefanía and Sillero García, Carlos and Royo García, Gloria},
}