title: Role of the systemic cellular immune response in the pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori-associated duodenal ulcer.
abstract: 20 patients colonized by H. pylori (9 with duodenal ulcer, 11 with antral gastritis) were examined for the presence of a systemic cellular immune response to H. pylori using an in vitro lymphocyte transformation assay. Infiltration of the antral mucosa by myelomonocytic cells was assessed by immunohistology as a parameter of local cellular immune response. A systemic H. pylori-induced cellular reaction could be demonstrated in 11 patients all of whom showed an intense myelomonocytic infiltration of the antral mucosa. In this group 7 of 9 duodenal ulcers occurred. The findings support the hypothesis, that a specific cellular immune response might be involved in the pathogenesis of H. pylori-associated gastritis and duodenal ulcer. A protective role of systemic cellular immunity to H. pylori seems rather unlikely.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie und Infektionsimmunologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kluge
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mielke
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Volkheimer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Niedobitek
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005756:Gastritis / Q000276:immunology; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged