Levels of Interleukins, Hepcidin and Ferritin in Helicobacter pylori Patients

Abstract

The current study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of H. pylori in anemic patients and the levels of serum interleukins (1 and 6), hepcidin and ferritin. Totally, 110 individuals who went to the consulting clinic at Medical city Hospital in Baghdad Governorate during May to September (2022) were subjected to the current study. The blood samples were collected from the study population and the obtained sera were examined using the specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to detect the prevalence of anti-H. pylori IgG-antibodies and the levels of interleukins, (1 and 6), hepcidin and ferritin. According to the results of serum analysis of 100 patients aged between 20-60 years, 75% were H. pylori positive. The percentage of males who tested positive was 62.7% compared to 37.3% females. The obtained results of hepcidin for anemia by H. pylori patients compared with the control group is 3.78 ± 0.17 ng/mL and 6.46 ± 1.52 ng/mL, respectively. It appeared that the hepcidin concentration was significantly lower (p <0.01) for the patients than for the controls. The values of Interleukin-1B appeared to be higher for anemia by H. pylori patients compared to the control group. The data obtained from IL-1 showed a significant increase in the serum concentration of patients compared with the healthy control group (p <0.01). As for values of Interleukin-6, the obtained results showed a significant increase in the serum concentration of patients compared with the healthy control group (p>0.05). The values of interleukin-6 appeared to be higher for anemia by H. pylori patients. This study concluded that there is a relationship between low ferritin levels and infection with H. pylori, and this leads to cases of anemia in the patient. The high levels of cytokines showed a correlation with infection with H. pylori, as infection stimulates the immune system.While the levels of hepcidin protein did not show clear results and its relationship with infection with H. pylori. Because the serological tests do not distinguish between active infection and past exposure to H. pylori, further confirmation by other tests is required before eradication therapy. Several tests are available for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. It should focus on the usefulness and limitations of each diagnostic method as well as the recent developments of these tests that contribute to improve the diagnostic accuracy. It should be considered in the future to extend current routine diagnostics of H. pylori infections with Next Generation Sequence (NGS) applications. More researches are needed to establish different foods at high risk of H. pylori presence and transmission.