METHODS: A total of 228 adult patients with GC or GEC were enrolled from Subang Jaya Medical Centre, Malaysia, for retrospective (210) and prospective study. All patients were subjected to the HER2 immunohistochemistry test using an FDA-approved, standardized test kit. Carcinomas scoring 2+ on immunohistochemistry were further tested with HER2 in situ hybridization (ISH) using an FDA-approved test kit.
RESULTS: The overall rate of HER2 positivity in the population studied was 24.6% (n = 56). The rate was significantly higher in men than in women (29.6 vs. 16.3%; p = 0.024). HER2 overexpression was significantly more common in diffuse type than in intestinal type of tumors (39.8 vs. 14.9%; p
MATERIALS AND METHODS: H. pylori genotypes cagA, babA2, and dupA were identified by polymerase chain reactions from gastric biopsy samples in 105 H. pylori-positive patients.
RESULTS: The positive rates for cagA, babA2, and dupA genes in H. pylori dyspeptic patients were 69.5%, 41.0%, and 22.9%, respectivel cagA was more prevalent in Indians (39.7%), babA2 was more prevalent in Malays (39.5%), and dupA detection occurred more frequently in both Indians and Malays and at the same rate (37.5%). The Chinese inhabitants had the lowest prevalence of the three genes. Nonulcer disease patients had a significantly higher distribution of cagA (76.7%), babA2 (74.4%), and dupA (75.0%). There was no apparent association between these virulence genes and the clinical outcomes.
CONCLUSION: The lower prevalence of these genes and variations among different ethnicities implies that the strains are geographically and ethnically dependent. None of the virulence genes were knowingly beneficial in predicting the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection in our subjects.