Helicobacter pylori infection and asthma

Abstract EN

Objective : The increase in asthma rates has been linked epidemiologically to the rapid disappearance of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterial pathogen that persistently colonizes the human stomach.

Recent evidence indicates that H.

pylori may have protective effects on allergic diseases.

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between asthma and H.

pylori infection.

Methods : Seventy five asthma patients and 71 nonasthma control patients were enrolled.

Oesophagogastro- doudenoscopy with gastric biopsies for detecting H.

pylori using biopsy urease test and pathology were done.

Results : The asthma group consisted of 75 patients, 44 (58.7 %) of them were females, the mean age ± SD was 31.2 ± 11.2 years.

The control group consisted of 71 patients, 37 (52.1 %) of them were females, the mean age ± SD was 45.23 ± 15.74 years.

Upper gastrointestinal symptoms were found in 87.9 % of asthmatics and 93.2 % of controls.

Lesions of upper GI tract were found in 72.6 % of asthmatics and 75.7 % of controls without significant difference (p-value = 0.6).

H.

pylori was detected in 78.7 % of asthmatics and 77.5 % of controls without significant difference (p-value : 0.8), it has no effect on type, severity (p-value : 0.5, 0.2, respectively), no differences in FEV1 or FVC between H.

pylori positive and negative asthmatics (p-value: 0.1, 0.9, respectively).

Conclusions : H.

pylori infection neither protect against asthma nor affect severity or type of the disease.

suppresses Th2 responses.The lack of adequate stimulation of the Th1 might result in an overactive Th2 response, which in turn leads to asthma.10 Moreover, the acquisition of H.

pylori may be of importance in the induction of regulatory T cells, which could effectively reduce the possibility of allergic asthma.11,12 Thus, one of the H.

pylori factors, the neutrophil-activating factor of H.

pylori (HP-NAP) which might drive Th1 polarization and display a powerful inhibition of allergic Th2 response, may be used as a potential antigen for treatment of asthma in the future.10,13 Recently, increasing studies have been devoted to the association of H.

pylori infection with asthma risk.

However, the majority of these studies were crosssectional, with the results conflicting.14,15 Elucidating the possible associations may help us better understand the pathological mechanism of asthma and therefore contribute to its prevention.