Background: The CagA-positive strains of H. pylori were associated with the higher risk of peptic ulcer (PU) diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum concentrations of anti-phosphatidylserine (anti-PS) and anti-cardiolipin (anti-CL) antibodies in H. pylori-infected PU patients, H. pylori-infected asymptomatic (AS) carriers, and a healthy non-infected group and also to determine their correlation with the bacterial virulence factor CagA.
Methods: A total of 100 H. pylori-infected PU patients (80 patients were positive for anti-CagA antibody and 20 patients were negative for anti-CagA antibody), 65 H. pylori-infected AS carriers (40 subjects were positive for anti-CagA antibody and 25 subjects were negative for anti-CagA antibody) and 30 healthy H. pylori-negative subjects (as a control group) enrolled in the study. Serum samples of participants were tested for the levels of anti-PS and anti-CL antibodies by ELISA.
Results: The mean serum levels of anti-PS antibody in the PU group (13.46 +/- 2.90 RU/mL) was significantly higher than that observed in the H. pylori-infected AS group (1.57 +/- 0.38 RU/mL, p < 0.001) and healthy uninfected control group (0.77 +/- 0.32 RU/mL, p < 0.001). No significant difference was observed for the mean serum levels of anti-PS antibody between the AS group and uninfected control group. In the PU group, the mean serum levels of anti-PS antibody was significantly higher in patients with a positive test for anti-CagA antibody (16.46 +/- 3.55 RU/mL) in comparison to patients with a negative test for anti-CagA antibody (2.74 +/- 1.29 RU/mL; p < 0.01). The differences of the mean serum levels of anti-CL antibody were not significant between PU, AS, and control groups.
Conclusions: These results showed higher serum levels of anti-PS antibody in patients with PU disease, especially in those infected with the CagA+ strains of H. pylori. Clinical significance of the anti-PS antibody in H. pylori-infected PU patients can be considered in additional follow up studies.