Brief Reports
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World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2005; 11(5): 695-699
Published online Feb 7, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i5.695
Enhanced production of leptin in gastric fundic mucosa with Helicobacter pylori infection
Yoshito Nishi, Hajime Isomoto, Shigeo Uotani, Chun Yang Wen, Saburo Shikuwa, Ken Ohnita, Yohei Mizuta, Akio Kawaguchi, Kenichiro Inoue, Shigeru Kohno
Yoshito Nishi, Hajime Isomoto, Ken Ohnita, Yohei Mizuta, Shigeru Kohno, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Sakamoto 1-7-1, Nagasaki, Japan
Shigeo Uotani, First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Sakamoto 1-7-1, Nagasaki, Japan
Chun Yang Wen, Department of Molecular Pathology, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Sakamoto 1-12-4, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan
Chun Yang Wen, Department of Digestive Disease, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, Jiangsu Province, China
Saburo Shikuwa, Department of Endoscopy, National Nagasaki Medical Center, 1001-1 Kubara, Omura, Japan
Akio Kawaguchi, Kenichiro Inoue, Shunkaikai Inoue Hospital, Takaramachi 8-9, Nagasaki, Japan
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Correspondence to: Dr. Hajime Isomoto, Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan. hajimei2002@yahoo.co.jp
Telephone: +81-95-849-7281 Fax: +81-95-849-7285
Received: June 19, 2004
Revised: June 22, 2004
Accepted: July 27, 2004
Published online: February 7, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To determine the concentrations of leptin in plasma and gastric fundic mucosa in humans, with reference to Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection, and their association with gastric mucosal levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and IL-8.

METHODS: Plasma leptin concentrations were determined in 135 outpatients with non-ulcer dyspepsia, consisting of 95 H pylori-infected and 40 uninfected subjects, and 13 patients before and after cure of the infection with anti-H pylori regimen. Using biopsy samples that were endoscopically obtained from the middle corpus along the greater curvature, gastric leptin contents were measured by radioimmunoassay and the mucosal concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. We also analysed the expression of leptin in the fundic mucosa by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry.

RESULTS: The mucosal levels of leptin in the fundic mucosa of H pylori-infected patients were significantly higher than those of uninfected patients. The amount of gastric leptin correlated positively with the mucosal levels of IL-1β and IL-6, but not IL-8. Circulating leptin correlated with body mass index, but not with H pylori status, and there was no change in plasma leptin levels following cure of the infection. Leptin immunoreactive cells were noted in the lower half of the fundic glands, and its expression of messenger ribonucleic acid in the oxyntic mucosa was detected by RT-PCR.

CONCLUSION: Leptin production is enhanced in H pylori-infected gastric mucosa. Gastric leptin may be involved in immune and inflammatory response during H pylori infection, through interaction with proinflammatory cytokines.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori infection; Gastric fundic mucosa; Leptin