Decrease of serum level of gastrin in healthy Japanese adults by the change of Helicobacter pylori infection

Analysis of serum gastrin-17 and Helicobacter pylori antibody in healthy Chinese population

BACKGROUND

Gastrin-17 (G-17) and Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) antibody are widely used in the screening of gastric diseases, especially in gastric cancer. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the value of G-17 and H pylori antibody in gastric disease screening.

METHODS

Healthy males and females (1368 and 1212, respectively) aged between 21-80 years were recruited for the study. Serum G-17 value was measured using ELISA, and H pylori antibodies were measured using Western blotting. Statistical analyses were performed using the chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis H tests.

RESULTS

Serum G-17 level was higher in the H pylori-positive group than in the negative group. Serum G-17 level was higher in the type 1 H pylori-positive group than in the type 2 H pylori-positive group. Further, serum G-17 level was higher in females than in males and showed significant differences among different age-groups, with changes in trend proportional to the age. The positive rate of H pylori infection in all the subjects was 58.29% and did not show a significant difference between males and females. However, it showed significant differences among different age-groups, with the changing trend proportional to the age.

CONCLUSION

Analysis of serum G-17 level and H pylori antibody typing is valuable in gastric disease screening. Every laboratory should establish its own reference interval for G-17 level.

Network pharmacology-based strategy to investigate pharmacological mechanisms of Zuojinwan for treatment of gastritis

BACKGROUND

Zuojinwan (ZJW), a classic herbal formula, has been extensively used to treat gastric symptoms in clinical practice in China for centuries. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of ZJW still remain vague to date.

METHODS

In the present work, a network pharmacology-based strategy was proposed to elucidate its underlying multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway mode of action against gastritis. First we collected putative targets of ZJW based on TCMSP and STITCH databases, and a network containing the interactions between the putative targets of ZJW and known therapeutic targets of gastritis was built. Then four topological parameters, "degree", "betweenness", "closeness", and "coreness" were calculated to identify the major targets in the network. Furthermore, the major hubs were imported to the Metacore database to perform a pathway enrichment analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 118 nodes including 59 putative targets of ZJW were picked out as major hubs in terms of their topological importance. The results of pathway enrichment analysis indicated that putative targets of ZJW mostly participated in various pathways associated with anti-inflammation response, growth and development promotion and G-protein-coupled receptor signaling. More importantly, five putative targets of ZJW (EGFR, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and MCP-1) and two known therapeutic targets of gastritis (CCKBR and IL-12β) and a link target NF-κB were recognized as active factors involved in the main biological functions of treatment, implying the underlying mechanisms of ZJW acting on gastritis.

CONCLUSION

ZJW could alleviate gastritis through the molecular mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology, and this research demonstrates that the network pharmacology approach can be an effective tool to reveal the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from a holistic perspective.

Hypergastrinemia in Long-Term Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors

BACKGROUND/AIM

The use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) is known to lead to hypergastrinemia; however, the data in patients with atrophic gastritis is still lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of long-term PPIs use on the gastrin levels in patients with atrophic gastritis and to determine factors affecting hypergastrinemia in long-term users of PPIs.

METHODS

Serum Helicobacter pylori IgG, gastrin and pepsinogen levels were measured. Atrophic gastritis was assessed by upper gastrointestinal endoscopies based on the Kimura-Takemoto classification and pepsinogen levels. CYP2C19 polymorphisms were assessed using DNA extracted from peripheral blood.

RESULTS

A total number of 382 patients (275 men and 107 women) were enrolled. Median serum gastrin levels were higher in PPI users than in non- users (234 vs. 113 pg/mL, p < 0.001) and in women than in men (252 vs. 155 pg/mL, p = 0.006). Gastrin levels were significantly associated with corpus atrophy only in the subgroup of non-users of PPIs. Multivariate analysis revealed that hypergastrinemia (over 150 pg/mL) was significantly associated with PPI use (OR 5.30; 95% CI 3.32-8.47), women (OR 2.22; 95% CI 1.33-3.72) and corpus atrophy (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.14-2.90).

CONCLUSION

PPI use, women and corpus atrophy were risk factors for hypergastrinemia. Gender, but not corpus atrophy, affected the gastrin levels in long-term users of PPIs.

Changing trends in the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Japan (1908-2003): a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of 170,752 individuals

Changing trends in the prevalence of H. pylori infection in the general population over time are thought to be the main driving force behind the declining gastric cancer mortality in Japan. However, whether the prevalence of H. pylori infection itself shows a birth-cohort pattern needs to be corroborated. We performed a systematic review of studies that reported the prevalence of H. pylori infection among Japanese individuals. Meta-regression was conducted in the framework of a generalized additive mixed model (GAMM) to account for heterogeneity in the prevalence of H. pylori infection as a function of birth year. The prevalence of H. pylori infection confirmed a clear birth cohort pattern: the predicted prevalence (%, 95% CI) was 60.9 (56.3–65.4), 65.9 (63.9–67.9), 67.4 (66.0–68.7), 64.1 (63.1–65.1), 59.1 (58.2–60.0), 49.1 (49.0–49.2), 34.9 (34.0–35.8), 24.6 (23.5–25.8), 15.6 (14.0–17.3), and 6.6 (4.8–8.9) among those who were born in the year 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000, respectively. The present study demonstrated a clear birth-cohort pattern of H. pylori infection in the Japanese population. The decreased prevalence of H. pylori infection in successive generations should be weighed in future gastric cancer control programs.