Relationship between ghrelin and Helicobacter pylori infection in Polish adult shepherds and their children

Abstract

Summary Background Ghrelin stimulates food intake and body weight gain. The stomach is the major source of circulating ghrelin, but controversy exists over the relationship between ghrelin release and Helicobacter pylori infection. Aim To assess the relationship between H. pylori infection and ghrelin, leptin and gastrin release in adult shepherds and their children, and to measure the effect of H. pylori eradication on gastric ghrelin content. Methods H. pylori prevalence was compared in 42 shepherds with full contact with sheep, 148 farmers without sheep contact and in 61 age‐matched urban adult controls as well as in 58 shepherd children with sheep contact, 88 mountain children without contact and 141 urban children controls. Serum levels of ghrelin, leptin and gastrin in adult shepherds and their children with and without H. pylori infection were measured. Results The major source of circulating ghrelin was gastric corpus mucosa, as ghrelin content was severalfold higher than that in antral mucosa and was significantly higher in the H. pylori‐eradicated than that in H. pylori‐infected mucosa. Serum levels of ghrelin were greatly increased, while gastrin levels were significantly decreased in H. pylori‐negative as compared with H. pylori‐positive subjects. In mountain children, serum levels of ghrelin and leptin were about twofold higher in H. pylori‐negative than in H. pylori‐positive children, whereas gastrin levels were significantly reduced in H. pylori‐negative children. Conclusions The high incidence of H. pylori infection in shepherds and their children seems to contribute to the decreased serum levels of ghrelin and increased levels of gastrin in H. pylori‐infected mountain children and to their decreased appetite and dyspeptic symptoms.

Helicobacter pylori infection and circulating ghrelin levels - A systematic review

“…Most of the studies (77%) investigated both males and females, 85% studied only adults and 52% studied sick subjects mainly subjects with gastrointestinal symptoms (64.7%) and Cancer (17.65%). Thirteen (48.2%) of the studies [ 15 , 21 , 30 , 33 - 41 ] were conducted in Asia; 11 (40.7%) [ 3 , 11 , 12 , 17 , 19 , 26 , 31 , 32 , 42 - 44 ] in Europe and three (11.1%) [ 14 , 18 , 45 ] in North America. Twenty-two percent of the studies reviewed were contributed by one research group alone, while Japan contributed 30% of the papers.…”

“…Of these 21 studies, three studies provided ghrelin values for the different categories of subjects studied. Chuang et al [ 30 ] presented their results by gender; D'Onghia et al [ 31 ] presented their results according to whether the subjects were healthy controls or had colo-rectal cancer; and Plonka et al [ 32 ] presented their results for adults and children separately. Because each of these features could affect the circulating ghrelin concentration, the different categories were entered into the meta-analysis as separate papers bringing the total number of papers included to 24 with a total of 2244 participants.…”

“…Heterogeneity was assessed using the chi-squared method and the I 2 method described by Higgins et al [ 28 , 29 ]. For studies that reported different sub-groups separately [ 30 - 32 ] those sub-groups were included as separate papers in the meta-analysis. Chuang et al, [ 30 ] reported ghrelin levels for males and females separately.…”

Plasma insulin, leptin, adiponectin, resistin, ghrelin, and melatonin in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis patients treated with melatonin

“…An explanation of this apparent discrepancy cannot be identified with certainty. Some reports showed significantly lower circulating ghrelin levels in Hp‐positive compared with Hp‐negative patients [57]. Of note, both the patients positive for Hp and/or those with endoscopic features of gastric lesions were not enrolled to these studies.…”

Helicobacter pylori Infection in Pediatrics

“…The negative correlation between plasma levels of ghrelin and H. pylori infection that may contribute to the alterations of the appetite and dyspeptic symptoms observed in infected patients was confirmed [39,40].…”