Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Formaldehyde Fixed Paraffin Embedded Gastric Tissues of Gastric Cancer Patients by Scorpion Real-Time PCR Assay

Background: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and it seems that environmental and lifestyle factors and infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) have a major role in the etiology of gastric cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of H. pylori DNA in archival gastric tissues of patients with gastric cancer disease by rapid, sensitive and specific technique of Scorpion real-time PCR. Patients and Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was performed during the year 2009, on 285 paraffin embedded gastric specimens of patients, who were pathologically proved to have gastric cancer and were admitted to Bou-Ali, Shahid Rajaie and Dehkhoda Hospitals and Bahar and Farzam Private Laboratory of Qazvin city, Iran. Results: The results of the Scorpion real-time PCR showed that H. pylori DNA was present in 8.42% of the total specimens. Modified McMullen’s staining of paraffin embedded sections were positive in ten patients. There was no significant relationship between the presence of H. pylori, sex, age and place of residence. Conclusions: Although the existence of H. pylori in gastric tissue samples of patients with gastric cancer is controversial however, our results showed that in our studied specimens a significant number of patients with gastric cancer had H. pylori colonization.