Abstract
Helicobacter species DNA has been detected in liver tissue of patients affected by primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). To investigate a potential causative relation between Helicobacter species and PBC/PSC, we compared the presence of Helicobacter species-specific DNA in liver tissue of patients with PBC/PSC ( n = 18/ n = 13) with those of a control group of patients with various liver diseases with known cause ( n = 29). A PCR with Helicobacter genus-specific 16S rRNA primers was performed on DNA isolated from paraffin embedded liver tissue. Control patients had hepatitis-B ( n = 9), alcoholic cirrhosis ( n = 14), or non-cirrhotic metabolic liver disease ( n = 6). There was no significant difference between the incidence of Helicobacter spp.-specific DNA in PBC/PSC (9/31; 29%) and the control group (10/29; 34%). Sequence analysis confirmed Helicobacter spp. DNA. Because Helicobacter spp. DNA can be found in approximately one-third of all samples tested, it is unlikely that PSC and PBC are caused by Helicobacter infection.
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