Influence of lansoprazole on the human gastric lipase and the intragastric lipolysis in healthy volunteers

The role of Lewis antigens in the pathogenic process is not well understood. The aim of this study was to determine whether the Lewis antigen expression of H. pylori differed in isolates obtained from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Lewis antigen expression status was determined by ELISA, and confirmation of LPS 0 side chain production in isolates not expressing Lewis antigen phenotype was conducted by SDS-PAGE. Expression of Lewis antigens by H. pylori isolates of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals differed significantly in three main categories: I) Type I Lewis antigens (Lea and Le) were not expressed at all by isolates from asymptomatic individuals, as compared with low level expression by isolates from symptomatic individuals; 2)incidence of LeX expression was significantly reduced in isolates from asymptomatic individuals; 3) an increased proportion of isolates from asymptomatic individuals did not express any Lewis antigens at all. The identification of differences between H. pylori isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals is the first step to understanding the potential role Lewis antigens may play in the pathogenicity of this bacteria. The decrease in the LeX expression by isolates from asymptomatic individuals is particularly interesting as this antigen has been noted to be expressed in higher proportions of H. pylori isolated from patients with peptic ulcer disease. The isolation of a high proportion of H. pylori that do not express any Lewis antigens in asymptomatic strains may also indicate a host-mediated cross reaction to the H. pylori Lewis antigens that may cause the pathology seen in some symptomatic patients.