Short mucin 6 alleles are associated with H pylori infection

AIM： To investigate the relationship between mucin 6 （MUC6） VNTR length and Hpylori infection. METHODS： Blood samples were collected from patients visiting the Can Tho General Hospital for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. DNA was isolated from whole blood, the repeated section was cut out using a restriction enzyme （Pvu 11） and the length of the allele fragments was determined by Southern blotting. Hpylori infection was diagnosed by ^14C urea breath test. For analysis, MUC6 allele fragment length was dichotomized as being either long （〉 13.5 kbp） or short （≤ 13.5 kbp） and patients were classified according to genotype [long- long （LL）, long-short （LS）, short-short （SS）]. RESULTS： 160 patients were studied （mean age 43 years, 36% were males, 58% H pylori positive）. MUC6 PvuⅡ-restricted allele fragment lengths ranged from 7 to 19 kbp. Of the patients with the LL, LS, SS MUC6 genotype, 43% （24/56）, 57% （25/58） and 76% （11/46） were infected with Hpylori, respectively （P = 0.003）. CONCLUSION： Short MUC6 alleles are associated with H pylori infection.