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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1363-1368, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00132-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Cross-Reactivity between Immune Responses to Helicobacter bilis and Helicobacter pylori in a Population in Thailand at High Risk of Developing Cholangiocarcinoma
Paola Pisani,1,7*
Mark T. Whary,2
Ingrid Nilsson,3
Supannee Sriamporn,4
Torkel Wadström,3
James G. Fox,2,5,
Åsa Ljungh,3, and
David Forman6,
Descriptive Epidemiology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 Cours Albert-Thomas, 69372 Lyon Cedex 03, France,1 Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts,2 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Medical Microbiology, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden,3 Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand,4 Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts,5 Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Leeds Institute of Genetics, Health and Therapeutics, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom,6 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom7
Received 16 April 2008/ Returned for modification 15 May 2008/ Accepted 24 June 2008
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 population in Thailand at high risk for cholangiocarcinoma. Plasma samples from 92 Thai volunteers were independently tested in two laboratories (Massachusetts Institute of Technology [MIT] and Lund). MIT performed three analyses of H. pylori and H. bilis based either on (i) outer membrane protein (OMP) with no preabsorption or on antigens derived from whole-cell sonicate before (ii) or after (iii) preabsorption with H. pylori sonicate protein. Lund used cell surface proteins from H. pylori and H. bilis as antigens. Testing for H. bilis was preabsorbed with a whole-cell lysate of H. pylori. More than 80% of the samples were positive for H. pylori in both laboratories. As tested by MIT, 58.7% (95% confidence interval, 47.9 to 68.9%) were positive for H. bilis by OMP and 44.5% (34.1 to 55.3%) were positive for H. bilis sonicate protein, but only 15.2% (8.6 to 24.2%) remained positive after preabsorption with H. pylori sonicate protein. Lund found 34.5% of the samples positive for H. bilis (22.0 to 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.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus, Headington OX4 7LF, United Kingdom. Phone: (44)1865 289660. Fax: (44)1865 289610. E-mail: paola.pisani{at}ceu.ox.ac.uk
Published ahead of print on 2 July 2008.
J.G.F., A.L., and D.F. contributed equally to this study.
Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, September 2008, p. 1363-1368, Vol. 15, No. 9
1071-412X/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00132-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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