Relationship between Helicobacter pylori and thiol-disulfide homeostasis: A prospective observational study

Aim: Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection causes inflammation and oxidative stress at a cellular level. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the possible relationship between HP and thiol-disulfide homeostasis (TDH), a novel indicator of oxidative stress. Methods: Medical data of a total of 53 patients admitted with persistent dyspepsia and undergoing gastroscopy were evaluated prospectively. The patients were divided into two groups, based on the result of gastric biopsy, as HP-positive (+) and HP-negative (-). Demographic data, ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), native thiol, total thiol, disulfide, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of the patients were recorded and compared between the two groups. Results: The native thiol (451.03 mmol/L vs. 407.03mmol/L, p=0.005) and total thiol (493.20 mmol/L vs. 456.40 mmol/L, p=0.027) levels were significantly higher in the HP (+) group than in the HP (-) group. The disulfide levels and disulfide/native thiol, disulfide/total thiol and native thiol/total thiol ratios were similar between the HP (+) and HP (-) groups. Although the FRAP was lower in the HP (+) group than in the HP (-) group, this difference was not statistically significant (0.94 mmol/L vs. 1.10 mmol/L). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in the IMA and MDA levels. Conclusion: In this study, oxidative status of HP patients was evaluated in several different methods. Among them, only elevated native thiol and total thiol levels were found in HP-induced gastritis. There is a need for further studies involving a larger number of patients and a subgroup analysis to examine whether elevated serum thiol-disulfide levels in HP infection suggest an antioxidant or pro-oxidant status.