Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 15 5 2016 10 31 355 362 EN Rajeeh Mohammadian Amiri Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran Mohsen Tehrani Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran AND Molecular and Cell Biology Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran Shirin Taghizadeh Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran Javad Shokri-Shirvani Department of Gastroenterology, Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Hafez Fakheri Gut and Liver Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran Abolghasem Ajami Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran AND Molecular and Cell Biology Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran 2015 11 03 2016 05 29 Host innate immunity can affect the clinical outcomes of Helicobacter pylori infection, including gastritis, gastric ulcer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and MALT lymphoma. Nucleotide binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-1 and -2 are two molecules of innate immunity which are involved in the host defense against H. pylori. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the expression level of NOD1 and NOD2 on the susceptibility to gastric cancer as well as peptic ulcer in individuals with H. pylori infection. The gene expression levels of these molecules were compared in three groups of non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) as a control group (n=52); peptic ulcer disease (PUD), (n=53); and gastric cancer (GC), (n=39). Relative expression levels of NOD1 in patients with GC were higher than those of NUD and PUD (p<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). Similarly in case of NOD1, PUD group showed higher level of expression than NUD group (p<0.01). However, there was no significant difference between H. pylori -positive and -negative patients in NUD, PUD, or GC groups. Moreover, the expression levels of NOD2 showed no significant difference among NUD, PUD, or GC groups, while among H. pylori-positive patients, it was higher in GC group than NUD  and PUD groups (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). In addition, positive correlation coefficients were attained between NOD1 and NOD2 expressions in patients with NUD (R2 Linear=0.349, p<0.001), PUD (R2 Linear=0.695, p<0.001), and GC (R2 Linear=0.385, p<0.001). Collectively, the results suggest that the chronic activation of NOD1 and NOD2 receptors might play a role in the development of gastric cancer. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/650 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/650/663