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and quantified CagA translocation by Western blot using anti-phosphotyrosine and antiCagA antibodies. Significantly higher levels of CagA were translocated by the 7.13 0310mutant compared to wild-type H. pylori strain 7.13. By utilizing proteomics technology to contrast two closely related H. pylori strains that induce distinct phenotypes, we have shown that HP0310 may function to alter levels of peptidoglycan, thereby affecting the composition of substrates translocated by the cag secretion system. These studies also provide an important foundation for investigating the role of bacterial virulence factors in H. pylori-induced pathologic sequelae, as such results would ultimately allow for generation of a profile of H. pylori proteins to use for screening persons infected with strains most likely to induce severe disease.

1David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and CURE Digestive Diseases Research Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; 2Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK; 3AstraZeneca RD 4Division of Gastroenterology, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Canada; 5Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; 6Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik II, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; 7Institute of Digestive Diseases, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China

the adequacy of current screening interval. Methods: Three hundreds one medical records from the patients who underwent surgical treatment for primary GC at Korea University Ansan Hospital from January 2002 through December 2006 were reviewed retrospectively. After patients were divided into three groups according to the previous history of gastric endoscopy and the motivation for endoscopic examination based on the presence or absence of symptoms: the group I, patients with repeated endoscopy within the last 2 years (before the detection of GC) regardless of symptom (nZ12), the group II, asymptomatic patients without endoscopic screening within the last 2 years (nZ37), and the group III, symptomatic patiens without endoscopy (nZ252), the clinicopathologic characteristics of three groups were compared. Results: The proportion of early gastric cancer and the tumor size among the 3 groups were 75% vs. 68% vs. 41% (pZ0.001) and 2.7 ! 3.6 cm vs. 4.1 ! 2.5 cm vs. 5.2 ! 3.3 cm (p Z 0.012), respectively. GC in the group I and II was characterized by smaller cancer in an earlier stage. However, notable differences among the 3 gropus were not found in age, sex, tumor location and histology. Conclusion: Endoscopic screening for asymptomatic patients is useful for detecting GC at the early stage. Probably, periodic(2 years interval) endoscopy enables early detection of GC at a smaller size regardless of symptom.