Spectrotypic analysis of antibodies to Helicobacter pylori in patients with antral gastritis and duodenal ulcer

Aims-To investigate the anti Helicobacter pylon (H pylon) spectrotype associated with (a) antral gastritis and duodenal ulcer; (b) the H pylori eradicating treatment. Methods-Spectrotypic analysis was performed by isoelectric focusing and reverse blotting (IEFRB) in a cross sectional study on sera from 70 patients with antral gastritis and duodenal ulcer. In addition, a longitudinal study was performed on 40 of these patients (20 with antral gastritis and 20 with duodenal ulcer) who underwent eradicating treatment. Results-The cross sectional study showed that the oligoclonal spectrotype was present in 74% of antral gastritis patients and in 85% of duodenal ulcer patients. In only a minority of subjects (23% with antral gastritis and 3% with duodenal ulcer) was a polyclonal spectrotype observed. The longitudinal study showed a reduction in the intensity of the spectrotypic bands in 5/10 antral gastritis patients with eradicated H pylonz as opposed to only 2110 patients without eradication. A reduction was also observed in 6/11 eradicated v 0/ 9 non-eradicated patients with duodenal ulcer. Collectively, a reduction in the spectrotype was observed in 11/21 patients (52%) who-independently ofthe diseaseunderwent H pyloni eradication, as opposed to 2/19 ofthe non-responder patients (10-5%). The polyclonal spectrotype was found exclusively in four patients with antral gastritis, all belonging to the group without eradication ofHpylori after eradicating treatment. Conclusions-The anti H pyloni oligoclonal spectrotype is the most common pattern observed in patients with antral gastritis and duodenal ulcer. After Hpylori eradicating treatment the spectrotype does not change qualitatively, but the polyclonal pattern seems to be predictive of a poor response to eradication.