Gastric ghrelin in relation to gender, stomach topography and Helicobacter pylori in dyspeptic patients

AIM: To investigate the level of gastric ghrelin in stomach mucosa of dyspeptic patients in relation to Helicobacter pylori ( H pylori) infection, bacterial cytotoxicity, topography and gender.METHODS: The study comprised 40 premenopausal women (19 H pylori positive) and 48 men (17 H pylori positive) with functional dyspepsia.All gastric biopsy specimens revealed normal mucosa or non-atrophic gastritis.Gastric ghrelin concentration was determined by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.The cagA and vacA strains of bacterial DNA were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction.RESULTS: In general, infection with H pylori caused an increase in gastric ghrelin level regardless of gender and stomach topography.Significantly more hormone was present in both, non-infected and H pylori positive female samples, as compared to males.The distribution of bacterial strains showed cagA(+) vacA s1m1 and cagA(-) vacA s2m2 genotypes as the most common infections in the studied population.A tendency to higher ghrelin levels was observed in less cytotoxic ( cagA negative) strain-containing specimens from the antrum and corpus of both gender groups (without statistical significance).CONCLUSION: An increase in gastric ghrelin levels at the stage of non-atrophic gastritis in H pylori positive patients, especially in those infected with cagA(-) strains, can exert a gastroprotective effect.