Abstract
Helicobacter pylori causes type B gastritis. It shows strong association with the development of gastric carcinoma. A plausible hypothesis for the missing link between H. pylori infection and gastric carcinogenesis involves oxygen free radical-induced DNA damage. To test this hypothesis, we compared the amount of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, a marker for oxygen free radical-induced DNA damage, in the DNA of human gastric mucosa with and without H. pylori infection. Gastric antral biopsies were taken from pediatric patients and volunteers to select H. pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative specimens. The 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine content of the gastric mucosal DNA was measured after H. pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative volunteers were identified. The increased level of oxidative DNA damage suggests the mechanistic link between H. pylori infection and gastric carcinoma.
Footnotes
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↵1 This work was supported by grants from the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF-SRC-56-CRC93-15) and from the Basic Medical Research Promotion Fund of the Ministry of Education, Korea.
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↵2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Microbiology, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, 92 Chilam-Dong, Chinju, Kyung-Nam 660-280, Korea. Phone: 82-591-50-8746; Fax: 82-591-759-1588.
- Received October 9, 1995.
- Accepted January 30, 1996.
- ©1996 American Association for Cancer Research.
Volume 56, Issue 6
