Association between serum pepsinogen A and C levels, serum gastrin concentrations and Helicobacter pylori antibodies.

Pepsinogen A and C as well as gastrin were measured in the serum of 117 patients with rheumatic diseases. Moreover, the patients were divided up in groups by aids of a semiquantitative, rapid enzyme immunoassay for detection of Helicobacter pylori: 20 patients without H. pylori antibodies (AB) negative, 18 positive + (= weak AB-titre), 21 positive +2 (medium AB-titre), and 58 positive +3 (high AB-titre). The semiquantitative determinations of H. pylori-AB correlated with pepsinogen A, C and gastrin. Patients with H. pylori-AB positive +3 showed significantly higher values of pepsinogen C (p < or = 0.01) as well as pepsinogen A and gastrin (p < or = 0.05) than H. pylori-AB negative patients. Significantly increased levels of pepsinogen A (> 150 ng/ml) and C (> 25 ng/ml) were found to occur in 39% and 100% of patients with high H. pylori-AB titres. The measurement of serum pepsinogen C concentrations may provide additional diagnostic information of the extent of mucosal lesions in patients with positive H. pylori-AB titres treated with antirheumatic drugs. Our findings suggest that the semi-quantitative classification of positive AB-results can be useful in cases determining H. pylori infection and mucosal irritation if other investigations are not available.