Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification as a Fast Noninvasive Method of Helicobacter pylori Diagnosis.

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori infection is etiologically associated with some important health problems such as gastric cancer. Because of the high clinical importance of H. pylori infection, development of a noninvasive test for the detection of H. pylori is desirable. METHODS In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) targeted ureC of H. pylori was evaluated on 100 stool specimens and compared with a stool antigen test. Culture and rapid urease test were considered as gold standards. RESULTS The overall detection rate of the fecal antigen test and LAMP was 58% and 82%, respectively. The analytical sensitivity of the fecal antigen test and LAMP was 500 and 10 H. pylori cells/g and 10 fg DNA/reaction, which is equal to six H. pylori genome. CONCLUSION LAMP technique has been characterized by high sensitivity and low detection limit for the detection of H. pylori in stool specimen. Clinical diagnostic performance of LAMP was better than the stool antigen test.