Only pattern I, with reactivity against 120-kDa antigens and other antigens, was considered to be a specific marker of infection in this study. median titer for anti-IgA was 61.0 IU/mL at 0C4 years, 63.5 IU/mL at 5C9 years, and 75.0 IU/mL at 10C15 years ( 0.001). The CagA-positivity rate was 26.5% at 0C4 years, 36.5% at 5C9 years, and 46.6% at 10C15 years for IgG (= 0.036), and 11.3% at 0C4 years, 18.6% at 5C9 years, and 23.3% at 10C15 years for IgA ( 0.001). Anti-IgG and IgA titers increased with the urease test grade, chronic gastritis degree, active gastritis, and infiltration. Presence of CagA-positivity is usually well correlated with a high urease test grade and high anti-IgG/IgA levels. is an important etiological factor for acute and chronic gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, and gastric adenocarcinoma (1). The severity of infection depends on the strain virulence, host susceptibility, and environmental factors (2). The Tartaric acid measurement of specific antibodies in serum has been used as a noninvasive method for detecting contamination (3) and over 90% of antigen (10). Therefore, the use of whole-cell lysates of strain 51 in ELISA may increase the yield when detecting anti-antibodies in the Korean population. Several studies have investigated the relationship between antibody titers and the pathogenesis of antibodies or against recombinant purified proteins have been performed in some human diseases where infections may play a role in their pathogenesis (9,12,13,14). However, the clinical significance of high antibody levels to according to quantitative ELISA has not been established and high anti-antibody levels have not been demonstrated to be predictive of the severity of gastroduodenal diseases or the density of colonization. Thus, to help identify factors that correlate with antibody levels in children, we evaluated the correlations between the levels of anti-IgG and IgA antibodies and the urease test grade, presence of CagA antigen, degree of gastritis, and age. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study population As a member of the National Biobank of Korea, Gyeongsang National University Hospital (GNUH) collects serum samples from random patients and stores them at ?80. Among the samples collected over 21 years, we examined those from 509 children who underwent upper gastroduodenoscopy at GNUH during 1991C2010. Thus, we enrolled 509 children and we reviewed the results of urease test and the histopathological findings, and tested the reserved serum. The sera were stratified into three Tartaric acid age groups: 0C4 years (n = 132), 5C9 years (n = 274), and 10C15 years (n = 103) (Table 1). Table 1 Baseline and clinical characteristics valueinfiltration 0.001??Normal98 (74.2)216 (78.8)62 (60.2)??Mild29 (22.0)46 (16.8)28 (27.2)??Moderate2 (1.5)11 (4.0)12 (11.7)??Severe3 (2.3)1 (0.4)1 (1.0)Urease test0.003?Unfavorable83 (62.9)170 (62.0)62 (60.2)?6-24 hr21 (15.9)49 (17.9)5 (4.9)? 6 hr28 (21.2)55 (20.1)36 (35.0) Open in a separate window Urease assessments and histopathological findings Three gastric endoscopic biopsies taken from the gastric prepyloric antrum with an Olympus GIF-XP endoscope with pediatric forceps were first subjected to urease tests, which were performed in the endoscopy room. Based on the rapidity of the color Tartaric acid change, the subjects were designated as grades 0 (unfavorable, no color change), 1 (color change between 6 and 24 hours), Rabbit polyclonal to AKT3 or 2 (color change within 6 hours). Three biopsy specimens each from the gastric antrum and gastric body were stained with hematoxylin-eosin for the histological analyses. The histology results were interpreted according to the Updated Sydney System. All of the histopathological slides that we reviewed had been prepared and donated by the GNUH. ELISA and western blot analysis Anti-IgG and IgA titers were measured by ELISA (10) using the coated with the prepared whole cell proteins of strain 51 (10 g/mL and 50 L per well diluted with coating buffer). Diluted sera (IgG 1:400, and IgA 1:100) were added to antigen-coated wells (50 L per well). Anti-CagA IgG and IgA antibodies were evaluated by western blot using whole-cell Tartaric acid lysates of strain 51 (15). The western.