Experimental animal studies have shown that H. pylori shares several antigenic regions in common with acid secreting cells in gastric mucosa. Antibodies triggered by H. pylori destroy acid secreting cells due this antigenic mimicry. H. pylori infection is very common in humans, and about half of the infected patients develop atrophic changes over the years. In end stage severe atrophy, H. pylori disappears and signs of a previous infection are difficult to detect.
This research, lead by Dr. L Veijola and her colleagues in the University of Helsinki, Finland, has recently been published on January 7 , 2010 in World Journal of Gastroenterology. This study also confirmed the findings of previous studies that the serum markers of autoimmune gastritis appear with increasing frequency in patients with H. pylori infection, when the acid secreting capacity vanishes. The prevention of autoimmune atrophic gastritis, and thus pernicious anaemia, by eradicating the H. pylori would make the lifelong vitamin B12 substitution therapy unnecessary.
Reference: Veijola LI, Oksanen AM, Sipponen PI, Rautelin HIK. Association of autoimmune type atrophic corpus gastritis with Helicobacter pylori infection. World J Gastroenterol 2010; 16(1): 83-88 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/16/83.asp
Correspondence to: Lea Irene Veijola, MD, PhD, Herttoniemi Hospital, City of Helsinki, Kettutie 8, 00800 Helsinki,Finland. lea.veijola@helsinki.fi Telephone: +358-9-3105511 Fax: +358-9-19126382
About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
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World Journal of Gastroenterology