Helicobacter pylori infection in subjects negative for high titer serum antibody

To investigate the clinicopathological features of the patients testing negative for high titer serum anti-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) antibody.

The antibody titers were measured using antigens derived from Japanese individuals. ¹³C-urea breath test-positive individuals were defined as having H. pylori infection. We investigated the demographic characteristics, laboratory data, endoscopic findings including Kyoto classification of gastritis, and histology in negative-high titer patients without H. pylori eradication therapy. Kyoto classification consisted of scores for gastric atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, enlarged folds, nodularity, and redness.

Of the 136 subjects enrolled, 23 (17%) had H. pylori infection. Kyoto classification had an excellent area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (0.886, 95% confidence interval: 0.803-0.968, P = 3.7 × 10^-20) for predicting H. pylori infection with a cut-off value of 2. Further, Kyoto classification, H. pylori density, and neutrophil activity had high accuracies (89.7%, 96.3%, and 94.1%, respectively). Kyoto classification was independent of the demographic and laboratory parameters in multivariate analysis.

Endoscopic Kyoto classification of gastritis is a useful predictor of H. pylori infection in negative-high titer antibody patients.