The BabA-MBS was significantly higher in the cancer than the non-cancer group (P= 0.019), but there was no significant difference for SabA-MBS. A weak correlation EX 527 between BabA-MBS and SabA-MBS (r= 0.418) was observed, the positive correlation being higher in the cancer than the non-cancer group (r= 0.598 and 0.288, respectively). The isolates were classified into two groups: a BabA-high-binding and a BabA-low-binding group (in comparison to the average for BabA-MBS). The average SabA-MBS in the BabA-high-binding group was significantly higher than in the BabA-low-binding

group (P < 0.0001). Analysis of babA2 middle region diversity (AD1–5) revealed that AD2-type was predominant in isolates irrespective of BabA-MBS. H. pylori BabA-MBS might have an effect on SabA-MBS and relate to the severity of gastric disorders, including gastric cancer. Evaluation of MBS of the combined two adhesins would be helpful for predicting damage in the H. pylori infected stomach. H. pylori is a Gram-negative, spiral and microaerophilic bacterium that colonizes the human stomach. H. pylori infection occurs mostly in early childhood (1) and causes chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric cancer (2) and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (3). H. pylori begins its colonization by binding to certain adhesive molecules

on the epithelial cells via H. pylori outer membrane proteins such as BabA, SabA, AlpA, AlpB and HopZ, leading to persistent infection and tissue damage (4–7). Two glycoconjugates, Panobinostat nmr fucosylated Lewis b blood group (Leb) and the sialic acid antigens (sLex and sLea), have been identified as cognate substrate molecules of the H. pylori adhesins, BabA and SabA, respectively (4, 5). BabA and SabA are ID-8 encoded by the babA2 and sabA genes, respectively, which mediate the attachment of H. pylori to human gastric epithelial cells (4, 5, 8). The relationship between the detection of these genes, babA2 and sabA, with PCR and clinical manifestations has been investigated (9–14).

There is no apparent relationship between the prevalence of sabA and gastric disease types (9). However, the sabA-negative genotype may be attributable to false negative PCR due to subtle mutations in the primer regions. On the other hand, the presence of babA2 has been shown to be associated with chronic gastritis (10), intestinal metaplasia (13) and duodenal ulcer (11), whereas several reports have shown no significant association between babA2 status and clinical manifestations in some countries, including Japan (12, 15, 16). In particular, the babA gene possesses high homologous sequences with minor diversity between babA1, babA2 and babB genes within a microorganism and among individual strains. These suggest that use of several primer pairs in PCR based-detection somewhat mitigates that risk and provides reliable findings.