Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) is a type of germ or bacteria causing gastritis. It may also lead to gastric cancer. H.pylori in the stomach will trigger immune system to fight the infection. The response can be in the form of natural immune response or specific immune response through an antibody of H.pylori. The antibody resulted from the infection only reacts to H.pylori, not other germs.
The existence of antibody can be used to identify the existing infection of H.pylori. Antibody is resulted from plasma cells. Plasma cells are one of the type of inflammatory cells from lymphocyte B cells. These plasma cell finding shows an existing H.pylori infection. They can be seen from a stomach tissue through a microscope.
There is a question, however, whether the number of plasma cells will increase along with H.pylori infection. Gilda et al. have conducted a research and compared the number of plasma cells to different degrees of H. pylori infection. The research concluded that increasing density of H.pylori is not always followed by rising number of plasma cells in the stomach. It showed that the severity of infection cannot be determined from the number of plasma cells in the stomach. These plasma cells then produce antibody of H.pylori.
The H.pylori infection in the stomach must be eradicated. Gastritis treatment should not only from drugs neutralizing gastric acid in the stomach, but also from special drugs eradicating H.pylori. Thus, detection of H.pylori is needed.
Detection of H.pylori can be done directly or indirectly. Direct identification can be done through germ identification in stomach tissue biopsy or hispathology test. Beside identifying the germ in the stomach, the test can also measure the density of the germ. It can give accurate H.pylori measurement but it is invasive as it is done through a biopsy (taking some tissue from the stomach).
Indirect identification can be done through antibody measurement found in the blood. H.pylori infection triggers immune response, lymphocyte B inflammatory cells become plasma cells producing antibody of H.pylori. This antibody can be detected in the blood of the infected patient.
The increasing antibody of H. pylori shows the existing infection. This test is less invasive because sample is retrieved from blood. However, this test cannot detect H.pylori directly.
Plasma cells which produce the antibody can be detected in stomach tissue using microscope. Althrough the plasma cells can be detected, the number of plasma cells does not increase significantly when H.pylori density increases.
Gilda et al. have proven that plasma cells do not increase significantly in mild infection. Therefore, it can be concluded that direct hispathology test capable of measuring density of H. pylori germs to know the infection severity is needed.The number of plasma cells does not determine the infection severity of H.pylori.
Author: Willy Sandhika
Journal article can be viewed on:
http://www.ina-jghe.com/journal/index.php/jghe/article/view/705
