Differences in peripheral blood lymphocyte phenotypes between Helicobacter pylori-positive children and adults with duodenal ulcer

ABSTRACTThe immunological mechanisms involved in the development of duodenal ulcer, especially in childhood, are unclear. Helicobacter pylori-positive children and adults, with and without duodenal ulcer, were therefore compared with respect to CD4+ T-cells, and CD8+ T-cells, B-cells and B1a-cells, as well as cell activation (CD4+/HLA-DR+ and CD8+/HLA-DR+) and co-stimulatory (CD4+/CD28+ and CD8+/CD28+) markers, in peripheral blood. Children with and without duodenal ulcer differed significantly. In particular, there was a phenotypic change in CD8+ T-cells from children with ulcer that involved a 200% increase in the number of CD8+/HLA-DR+ cells/mm3 and a decrease of 34.2% in the number of CD8+/CD28+ cells/mm3. This phenotype of chronically activated memory CD8+ T-cells, which has also been observed in patients with AIDS and tuberculosis, is associated with disease severity and progression. A lower frequency of B1a-cells was also observed in the group of children with ulcer. Conversely, no difference between infected adults with and without ulcer was observed, but the percentage of CD4+/HLA-DR+ cells was lower in adults with ulcer, suggesting that a down-regulated immune response may play a role in the development of duodenal ulcer in adults. Gastric inflammation correlated positively with CD4+ and chronically activated CD4+ T-cells in children and adults without duodenal ulcer, respectively. These results suggest that there are differences in the immunophenotyping profile between H. pylori-positive children and adults with duodenal ulcer, indicating the possibility of distinct immune mechanisms in the development of the disease according to age.