NONOPSONIC ACTIVATION OF NEUTROPHILS AND CYTOTOXIN PRODUCTION BY HELICOBACTER-PYLORI - ULCEROGENIC MARKERS

Fifty-four clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori from human gastric biopsy specimens were tested for cytotoxin production, as determined by intracellular vacuolization of HeLa cells, and for the induction of oxidative burst in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNLs), as mea sured by luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence (CL). Nonopsonized, 20 of the H. pylori strains induced a rapid and strong CL response, in contr ast to 30 other strains, which showed only weak and slow responses. An other four strains gave inconclusive results. Cytotoxin production was demonstrated in 10 of the 20 strains with rapid responses but only in 3 of the 30 strains with slow and low responses (p = 0.0027, Fisher's exact test, two-tailed). Eleven of the 15 cytotoxin-producing strains (p = 0.0135) and 13 of the 20 strains with strong CL responses (p = 0 .0209) were from 22 patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD). The abil ity of some nonopsonized H. pylori to activate PMNLs showed co-variati on with their ability to produce cytotoxin, but these two properties s eem to be independent markers of PUD.