Is there a pathological relationship between microalbuminuria and Helicobacter pylori vacA and cagA genes in type 2 diabetic patients?

Diabetes is one of the most common metabolic disorders worldwide. Microalbuminuria, one of the complications following elevated glucose levels, is used as a simple and effective method of kidney function analysis in diabetic patients. Early stage diagnosis of microalbuminuria is useful in monitoring and prevention of the progression of diabetic nephropathy. Due to a lower immunity, diabetic patients are more susceptible. Reports have shown that cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA)-positive Helicobacter pylori is one of the effective factors responsible in microalbuminuria pathology. However, a lack of information on the relationship between microalbuminuria in type II diabetes and vacuolating cytotoxin A (vacA) is evident. The present study aimed at the relationship between microalbuminuria in type II diabetes and vacA and cagA genes from H. pylori. A total of 88 type II diabetic patients referred to the Isfahan Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center participated in this study. Nested PCR was performed to exclude host genes, and consequently, H. pylori genotyping was performed based on vacA and cagA. Out of the 88 patients, 68.2 % (60/88) of them have microalbuminuria. A total of 18.2 % of the patients were infected with H. pylori in which 75 % of them showed microalbuminuria and 18.8 % of this group had simultaneously microalbuminuria and expression of cagA. The association between microalbuminuria and H. pylori infection was not statistically significant (p = 0.52). Considering the population size and criteria of choice, statistical analysis did not show any significant relationship between the virulence genes vacA and cagA of H. pylori and microalbuminuria in type II diabetic patients.