S100A8 and infection: In the group of gastritis, the distribution of STAT3 genotypes was not different in respect to the gender (χ2 = 3.05, 2 degrees of freedom p = 0.22) and cagA status (χ2 = 3.91, 2 degrees of freedom, p = 0.14), but a tendency of association was observed between the distribution of EPIYA-C segments and STAT3 genotypes (χ2 = 4.73, 2 degrees of freedom, p = 0.09), the infection by strains with EPIYA-CC or EPIYA-CCC being less frequent in the GG genotype carriers (Table 3).