Expression and function of human β-defensin-2 in patients with peptic ulcer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between the pathophysiology of Helicobacter pylori induced antral gastritis and the expression of human β -defensin (HBD) -2 in peptic ulcer before and after Helicobacter pylori eradication.Methods Patients in peptic ulcer with Helicobacter pylori-posilive (23 cases) or Helicobacter pylori-negative (20 cases) were included.And 30 normal individuals were as controls.Biopsied gastric mucosa specimens from Helicobacter pylori-positive or Helicobacter pylori-negative individuals were done and normal controls were used.The specimens were examined for pathophysiology diagnosis and HBD-2 expression by immunohistochemistry before and after Helicobacter pylori eradication.Results Helicobacter pylori infection was correlated with the histological severities of both inflammation activity and atrophy in antral gastritis (r =0.574,0.640,P ＜ 0.01 ).The expression of HBD-2 was positively correlated with Helicobacter pylori infection in all the specimens (r =0.533,0.577,P ＜ 0.01 ).Immunohistochemistry using anti-HBD-2 antiserum revealed that HBD-2 expression and inflammation activity had significantly decreased in gastric specimens obtained after Helicobacter pylori eradication(P ＜ 0.01 ).The expression of HBD-2 had no variance in the case failing in Helicobacter pylori eradication (P ＞0.05).Conclusions Helicobacter pylori infection induces HBD-2 expression in the human gastric epithelium.HBD-2 inhibits the growth of Helicobacter pylori in vitro,which suggests that HBD-2 plays an antibacterial or inhibition role in Helicobacter pylori induced gastritis.In other words,the absence of HBD-2 should enhance the histological inflammation of Helicobacter pylori induced antral gastritis. Key words: Gastritis; Peptic ulcer; , Helicobacter pylori; β -defensin-2