Helicobacter pylori (HP) is considered a major gastric pathogen with oncogenic potential. The aim of this study was to determine whether HP is present in oropharyngeal lymphoid tissue and whether oropharyngeal HP strains carry virulence factor genes known to be involved in gastric carcinogenesis. The study included 104 subjects (41 patients with tonsillar carcinoma, 38 with chronic tonsillitis and 25 with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome--OSAS). Detection of specific serum anti-HP antibodies was performed with an ELISA. The presence of HP in tissue was determined by culture and real-time PCR. Detection of virulence factors genes was also performed. Specific antibodies were found in 78.05% of tumour cases, 34.21% of chronic tonsillitis cases, and 72.0% of OSAS cases. The presence of HP in the tissue was detected in 73.91% of tonsillar tumours, 70.0% of tonsillitis cases, and 69.23% of OSAS specimens. The results of the virulence factor gene analysis showed the majority of the s1b (52.4%) and m2 (59.5%) alleles of vacA gene and limited abundance of cagA gene (12.5%). Results confirm that HP may colonise oropharyngeal lymphoid tissue. Oropharyngeal HP colonisation was frequently found in the oropharyngeal cancer group and in patients with benign oropharyngeal diseases. A virulence factor gene analysis showed differences from the predominant strains most commonly found in the stomach. The strains obtained from the oropharynx differed primarily by the lower abundance of the cagA gene and carried the less virulent vacA gene allele combination.
Pragia is proposed as a new genus in the family Enterobacteriaceae. Pragia fontium is proposed for the single Pragia species, in which 18 strains are known, all of which were isolated in Czechoslovakia. P. fontium strains give positive tests for Simmons citrate, H,S production, motility, acid production from D-glucose and D-galactose, and gluconate oxidation. The majority of strains are positive in tests for methyl red and esculin. Acid production from glycerol, salicin, and ~-xylose varies among strains, whereas all strains are negative in Voges-Proskauer tests and tests for indole production, urea hydrolysis, phenylalanine deaminase, lysine and ornithine decarboxylases, arginine dihydrolase, gelatin hydrolysis, growth in KCN, malonate utilization, gas production from D-glucose, lipase, deoxyribonuclease, tyrosine clearing, and acid production from carbohydrates other than those noted above. The levels of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) relatedness of seven P . fontium strains to labeled DNA from the type strain ranged from 85 to 94% (hydroxyapatite method at 60 and 75°C); the levels of DNA relatedness of P . fontium to other members of the Enterobacteriuceae were 17% or less except for biochemically atypical Budvicia aquatica DRL 23575 (37%). Seventeen P. fontium strains were isolated from wells or water pipes, and one strain was isolated from the stool of a healthy woman. The type strain of P . fontium is strain CNCTC Eb11182 (= CDC 963-84 = DRL 20125).
Helicobacter pylori from patients with different diseases, including so-called autoimmune thyroiditis, chronic tonsillitis and tonsillar cancer, was isolated and cultured. It was identified according to the genotype using labeled hybridization probes complementary to six sequences of cagA and vacA genes. Different types of strains were found in isolates from gastrointestinal tract and patients suffering from thyroiditis. Six out of seven genotyped isolates from patients in our Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery exhibited the same genotype, differing from isolates obtained from other patients; the 7th isolate originated from a patient who had undergone surgery for deviatio septi nasi, at the same time suffering from autoimmune thyroiditis, having confirmed gastric infection by H. pylori from biopsy. This data made it possible to formulate the hypothesis on probable association of specific H. pylori genotype with chronic tonsillitis and tonsillar cancer. We assessed commercial transport media and improved nucleic acid isolation techniques and the RT-PCR-based tests, which allowed us to skip a culture step and to test directly the patients' samples; however, for full confirmation of our hypothesis and explanation of possible mechanisms of the contribution of Helicobacter sp. to the pathogenesis of the disease further data are to be collected and evaluated.
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