Detection Rate of Helicobacter Pylori in Gastric Adenocarcinoma and Effect of Helicobacter Pylori Infection on Proliferative Activity of Gastric Epithelium

Oh, Young Lyun; Ahn, Geung Hwan

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection has been shown to be associated with gastric carcinoma. However, despite the frequent detection of seropositivity for H. pylori and histologic detection in biopsy specimen, histologic detection rate of H. pylori in surgical specimens has been low. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of H. pylori infection in gastrectomy specimens bearing gastric adenocarcinoma and compared it with both endoscopic biopsy and serologic results. H. pylori infection was identified by Giemsa stain in the mucosa stripped from the tumor, body, and antrum in 61 gastrectomy specimens. We evaluated the effect of H. pylori infection on gastric mucosal cell proliferation by using monoclonal antibody for Ki-67. H. pylori detection rate using Giemsa stain was higher in gastrectomy specimens (67.3%) compared to that (48.1%) of biopsy specimens (p=0.006). The detection rate was higher in body than that of antrum or tumor site in the same patients (p=0.001). The H. pylori seropositivity was 60.5% and relatively nonspecific. The mean value of Ki-67 labeling index in the H. pylori-positive group was higher than that in the H. pylori-negative group (p<0.05). The increase in gastric epithelial cell proliferation was not influenced by the location of the tumor or the site of the specimen. The results suggest that the actual prevalence of H. pylori infection in patients with gastric carcinoma is considerably higher than that evaluated on endoscopic biopsy specimens. In addition, the increased cell proliferation in the H. pylori-positive group suggests some evidence that H. pylori may be involved in gastric carcinogenesis.