Dr.Mona Abdulafattah
Ain Shams University ,Egypt
Title: Predominance of Blastocystis hominis Subtype I among Colorectal Cancer Patients in Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Biography
Biography: Dr.Mona Abdulafattah
Abstract
The putative role of infectious agents in causing gastrointestinal disorders is undeniable. In this regard, Blastocystis hominis has increasingly been implicated for diarrheal illness in immunocompromised individuals including colo-rectal cancer (CRC). Blastocystis is a genetically diverse intestinal parasite with controversial pathogenic potential. It has been shown recently that the antigen of certain Blastocystis subtypes could facilitate the proliferation of colon cancer cells. The aim of the current study was to assess the prevalence of Blastocystis in CRC patients and to genetically identify Blastocystis subtypes commonly associating CRC in Makkah region, Saudi Arabia. A total of 218 stool samples were collected from suspected patients including 74 CRC, 64 Cancer other than colon (COC) and 80 non-cancer (NC) patients. Collected stool samples were initially examined for detection of Blastocystis infection using culture technique. Blastocystis-positive isolates were further genetically subtyped using multiplex polymerase chain reaction with sequence-tagged site primers (PCR-STS). Out of the total examined stool specimens, Blastocystis were conventionally identified in 22.9% (50 out of 218). This included 29.7%, 25% and 15% among CRC, COC and NC patients, respectively. Using PCR-STS, obtained Blastocystis isolates were genetically categorized into 3 different subtypes; subtype I (38%), subtype II (44%) and subtype V (22%). While subtype II was predominantly detected in both COC and NC patients (43.7% and 58.3%, respectively), interestingly, subtype I was most predominant in CRC patients (54.5%). To the best of our knowledge, the study is the first to genetically determine the Blastocystis hominis subtypes associating CRC in Makkah region, Saudi Arabia.