Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Microbiology 2008-3289 17 5 2025 10 14 708 717 Marzieh Esmaeilzadeh Department of Microbiology, Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran Farshid Kafilzadeh Department of Microbiology, Jahrom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Jahrom, Iran Mohammad Kargar Department of Microbiology, Zand Institute of Higher Education, Shiraz, Iran Hamid Asadzadeh Aghdaei Basic and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Abbas Yadegar Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2024 11 16 2025 06 29 Background and Objectives: Studies have indicated that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection could correlate with autophagy dysregulation. This research was undertaken to investigate whether H. pylori can dysregulate the expression of genes related to autophagy in human gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells. Materials and Methods: Ten H. pylori clinical isolates recovered from peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and chronic gastritis (CG) patients were used for cell infection assays. AGS cells infected with H. pylori strains at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 100 were incubated at 37°C for 12 h. The expression of autophagy-related genes (atg5, atg12, atg16L1, LC3B, and beclin-1) was determined in AGS cells by RT-qPCR. ELISA was applied to measure IL-8 production. Results: The gene expression of atg5, atg12, atg16L1, LC3B was upregulated by both CG and PUD strains. The overexpression was more pronounced in PUD than CG strains. On the contrary, beclin-1 gene was downregulated in all H. pylori-infected AGS cells. In addition, H. pylori strains could significantly produce IL-8 in AGS cells. Conclusion: Our in vitro study demonstrates that H. pylori could alter the expression of autophagy-related genes. Further investigation could precisely uncover the mechanism whereby H. pylori dysregulates host autophagy. https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/view/5140 https://ijm.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijm/article/download/5140/1816