Quantitative real-time PCR for the clinical detection of Helicobacter pylori

ABSTRACT

Accurate diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection is very important in both clinical practice and research. We evaluated the sensitivity of real-time PCR (RT-PCR) for the detection and quantification of Helicobacter pylori using DNA from 91 human gastric biopsy samples divided into three groups 46 biopsies from untreated patients who according to the references methods were considered H. pylori-negative (group A); 35 biopsies from patients previously treated against H. pylori and considered to be cured by "gold standard" tests (group B); and 10 biopsies from patients H. pylori-positive by all available methods (group C). The sensitivity of the RT-PCR assay was higher than that of standard methods. Of the 81 patients considered to be uninfected according to the references methods, 16 were H. pylori-positive by PCR, 10 of which were patients who had received H. pylori eradication therapy and 6 were untreated patients. Based on these findings we recommend that RT-PCR should be use in addition to standard methods in clinical studies to monitor the results of H. pylori eradication therapy.