Regional differences on production of chemokines in gastric mucosa between Helicobacter pylori-positive duodenal ulcer and gastric ulcer

It is well known that antrum-predominant gastritis and pan-gastritis occurs in the patients with Helicobacter pylori-positive duodenal ulcer (DU) and gastric ulcer (GU), respectively. However, the role of chemokines in the pathogenesis of these pathologies is unclear. We examined the regional differences in mucosal chemokine production in patients with DU and GU. The production of interleukin-8 (IL-8), growth-related gene (GRO) alpha, and macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-1 alpha was greater in the antrum than in the corpus in DU patients. In the patients with GU, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 levels in the mucosa adjacent to ulcer were greater than those away fur the ulcer in the corpus. The reduction in chemokine production occurring in association with the eradication of H. pylori differed between DU and GU patients in the antrum (IL-8, P = 0.0394; GRO alpha, P = 0.0149; MIP-1 alpha, P = 0.0246; MCP-1, P = 0.0087). The data imply a different pathogenesis may exist for the gastritis present in patients with DU and GU occurring in H. pylori-positive individuals.