HLA-DQB1 locus and the development of atrophic gastritis with Helicobacterpylori infection

Helicobacter pylori is known to be involved in digestive diseases such as p eptic ulcer, atrophic gastritis, and gastic cancer. It is supposed that the incidence of these digestive diseases associated with H. pylori is influen ced by the strain diversity of IL pylori, factors involving the host or env ironment, and the duration of infection. In this study, we directed our att ention to HLA, a host factor, anti investigated the relation between HLA-DQ B1 genotype of H. pylori-infected patients and the development of atrophic gastritis. HLA-DQB1 genotyping was performed hv the polymerase chain reacti on-restriction fragment length polymorphism method on 122 H. pylori-infecte d patients with atrophic gastritis and 28 uninfected Japanese controls. Inf ected patients with developed atrophic gastritis were classified as the ope n type and those with undeveloped atrophic gastritis as the closed type. To estimate the grade of atrophic gastritis reliably, histological and serolo gical evaluations were also undertaken. The allele frequency of DQB1*0401 w as significantly higher in the open-type group compared to either the close d-type or the uninfected group. These results suggest that immunogenic fact ors play an important role in the development of atrophic gastritis in H. p ylori-infected patients, and that DQB1*0401 is a useful marker for determin ing susceptibility to this disease.