Helicobacter pylori cagA and vacA genotypes in Cuban and Venezuelan populations

The aim of this study was to determine the presence of Helicobacter pylori cytotoxin-associated gene (cagA)/vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) among patients with chronic gastritis in Cuba and Venezuela. Gastric antrum biopsies were taken for culture, DNA extraction and PCR analysis. Amplification of vacA and cagA segments was performed using two regions of cagA: 349 bp were amplified with the F1/B1 primers and the remaining 335 bp were amplified with the B7629/B7628 primers. The VA1-F/VA1-R set of primers was used to amplify the 259-bp (s1) or 286-bp (s2) product and the VAG-R/VAG-F set of pri...