• Tadashi Ohara, Yuhsaku Kanoh, Kazuhide Higuchi, Tetsuo Arakawa, and Testsuo Morisita.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Chiba Hospital, Tokyo Dental College, Ichikawa General Hospital, Chiba, Japan. jlohara@sm.rim.or.jp
• Hepato Gastroenterol. 2003 May 1; 50 (51): 607-9.

Background/AimsA possibility that the eradication therapy not only eliminates Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) but also influences some factors regulating pathological changes in the gastric mucosa should be taken into consideration from some phenomena. Such as non-recurrent cases of peptic ulcer long-term in spite of unsuccessful anti-H. pylori eradication therapy and the effectiveness of eradication therapy for mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue with a low-grade malignancy except stomach. We hypothesized and investigated that antibiotic treatment for elimination of H. pylori might directly affect inflammatory cells to induce apoptosis in them and protect against pathological changes of gastric mucosa.MethodologySubjects consisted of twenty-one patients with chronic gastritis. All were H. pylori positive and we investigated the effects of eradication therapy of H. pylori on inflammation-related immunocytes in the gastric mucosa of patients with chronic gastritis caused by H. pylori isolated mononuclear leukocytes which were taken from the patients and were examined for apoptosis-related morphological changes and DNA fragmentation before and after the therapy. Eradication therapy of H. pylori was performed by lansoprazole 30 mg/day, amoxicillin 1500 mg/day and clarithromycin 400 mg/day for one week.ResultsAfter the H. pylori eradication therapy, regardless of its effect on H. pylori status, marked vacuolation and degeneration were observed in mononuclear leukocytes in the gastric mucosa with a concomitant enhancement of nuclear DNA fragmentation.ConclusionsThis observation suggests that H. pylori eradication therapy itself induces apoptosis in mononuclear leukocytes in the gastric mucosa.

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