Assessment of the cag pathogenicity island status of Helicobacter pylori infections with serology and PCR

Abstract

The serological characterisation of Helicobacter pylori strains has been questioned, e.g., when the presence or absence of the cag pathogenicity island (PAI) is determined. This study compared CagA-reactive serum antibodies, assessed with immunoblot, with cag PAI status, as determined by PCR. CagA serology results were available for 101 individuals contributing 202 bacterial samples for cag PAI PCR. There was a high degree of correlation between the two methods (kappa coefficient, 0.82; 95% confidence interval, 0.68-0.97). Combined with suggested biological explanations for the discrepancies, this finding supports the application of well-evaluated serological assays in the assessment of the cag PAI status of H. pylori infections in clinical and epidemiological studies.