Main Article Content

Molecular detection of pathogenic bacteria in the colonic biopsies from patients with Ulcerative Colitis


Thanaa El A Helal
Hoda E El Abdel Wahab
Sally M Saber
Waleed H Abdelaaty
Mohamed M Eltabbakh
Ahmed M Aref
Mohamed H Dawood

Abstract

Background/Aim: Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease which is common in many areas of the world including Egypt. A lot of controversy regarding the pathogenesis of UC exist. The current study is an attempt to detect some pathogenic bacteria in UC patients.


Materials and methods: Endoscopic colonic biopsies obtained from 40 patients with ulcerative colitis and 20 controls were analyzed by means of real-time PCR technique for the presence of Clostridium difficile, Helicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) and pathogenic Escherichia Coli (E. coli) which are positive for KPC and/or OXA-48.


Results: All patients and control samples were negative for Clostridium difficile. Three of the 40 patient samples (7.5%) and none of the 20 controls were positive for H. pylori with no significant difference between the two groups. KPC-positive E. coli were detected in 11 of the 40 patients (27.5%) and in none of the controls with a significant difference between the two groups (P=0.01). All patients and control samples were negative for OXA-48 positive E. coli.


Conclusion: Although this study does not support the claim that Clostridium difficile and/or H. pylori have a role in UC, it greatly suggests that pathogenic E. coli may be involved in one way or another in the course of UC.


Keywords: Ulcerative colitis; Colonic biopsies; Clostridium difficile; H. pylori; E. coli.


Journal Identifiers


eISSN: 1729-0503
print ISSN: 1680-6905