Effects of Helicobacter pylori infection on genetic instability, the aberrant CpG island methylation status and the cellular phenotype in Barrett's esophagus in a Japanese population

Int J Cancer. 2009 Mar 15;124(6):1263-9. doi: 10.1002/ijc.24092.

Abstract

Genetic or epigenetic alterations in Barrett's esophagus (BE) with/without Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection remain unclear. We examined the effects of H. pylori infection on genetic instability (GIN), the CpG island methylation status and a biomarker related to BE carcinogenesis. We analyzed 113 Japanese individuals with endoscopically suspected BE. The patients included, Group CLE (n = 25): no specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM) in a columnar lined epithelium (control); Group BE (n = 88): all had SIM. Microsatellite instability and a loss of heterozygosity as GIN, the methylation status at hMLH1, E-cadherin, p16 and APC, and immunoreactivity using a monoclonal antibody (mAb) Das-1, which specifically reacts with BE, were evaluated. Nine additional patients with BE were prospectively followed up for 2 years after successful H. pylori eradication. The frequency of GIN, methylation at E-cadherin and APC, and mAb Das-1 reactivity in Group BE was significantly higher than that in Group CLE (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.005, and p < 0.0001, respectively). Furthermore, GIN, E-cadherin methylation and mAb Das-1 reactivity showed a significantly higher incidence in patients with H.pylori infection than in those without H. pylori infection (p < 0.01, p < 0.005, and p < 0.01, respectively). Interestingly, the patients from Group BE were observed to change to a stable state of molecular alterations in 60% for GIN, 42.9% for E-cadherin methylation and 55.6% for APC methylation, or a reduction of mAb Das-1 reactivity was noted in 25% following eradication. H. pylori infection may therefore affect these molecular alterations associated with the pathogenesis of BE, to some degree, in the Japanese population.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / genetics
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Barrett Esophagus / genetics*
  • Barrett Esophagus / pathology
  • Cadherins / genetics
  • CpG Islands
  • DNA / genetics
  • DNA / isolation & purification
  • DNA Methylation
  • DNA Primers
  • DNA Repair
  • Female
  • Genes, APC
  • Helicobacter Infections / complications*
  • Helicobacter Infections / genetics
  • Helicobacter pylori
  • Humans
  • Intestinal Mucosa / pathology
  • Japan
  • Loss of Heterozygosity
  • Male
  • Microsatellite Instability
  • Microsatellite Repeats
  • Middle Aged
  • MutL Protein Homolog 1
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Phenotype
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing
  • Cadherins
  • DNA Primers
  • MLH1 protein, human
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • DNA
  • MutL Protein Homolog 1