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Clin. Vaccine Immunol. doi:10.1128/CVI.00132-08
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Cross-reactivity in immune responses to Helicobacter bilis and Helicobacter pylori in a Thai population at high risk for cholangiocarcinoma

Descriptive Epidemiology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon cedex 03, France; Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Medical Microbiology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden; Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Thailand; Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: paola.pisani{at}ceu.ox.ac.uk.

	Abstract

Helicobacter bilis DNA has been detected in human tissue and is a candidate for etiologic investigations on the causes of hepatic and biliary tract diseases, but reliable serologic tests need to be developed in order to pursue such investigations. The scope of this study was to assess the specificity of two assays for H.bilis immune response allowing for H.pylori, and their cross-reactivity in a Thai population at high risk for cholangiocarcinoma.

Plasma samples from 92 Thai volunteers were independently tested in two laboratories (MIT and Lund). MIT performed three analyses of H.pylori and H.bilis based on: 1) outer membrane protein (OMP) with no pre-absorption, 2) antigens derived from whole cell sonicate before and 3) after pre-absorption with H.pylori sonicate protein. Lund used cell-surface proteins from H.pylori and H.bilis as antigens. Testing for H.bilis was pre-absorbed with a whole-cell lysate of H.pylori.

Over 80% of the samples were positive for H.pylori in both laboratories. By MIT, 58.7% (95% confidence interval 47.9%-68.9%) were positive for H.bilis by OMP and 44.5% (34.1%-55.3%) by sonicate protein but only 15.2% (8.6%-24.2%) remained positive after pre-absorption with H.pylori sonicate protein. Lund found 34.5% samples positive for H.bilis (22.0%-41.0%) which was statistically compatible with all three MIT results. Serologic responses to OMPs of the two bacteria coincided in 66% and 45% of the samples in the MIT and Lund assays respectively.

We found high cross-reactivity between the immune responses to H.pylori and H.bilis antigens. More specific H.bilis antigens need to be isolated to develop serologic tests suitable for epidemiological studies.