EXPRESSION OF APOPTOSIS FACTORS IN PORTAL HYPERTENSIVE GASTROPATHY AND ASSOCIATION WITH HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION

Introduction. Despite the fact that portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG) developing in patients with portal hypertension (PH) is a serious
clinical problem, its pathogenesis remains to be poorly studied.
The aim of our research was to study the proapoptotic protein Bax and anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 expression in epithelial cells of gastric mucosa
in patients with PHG, and to find the association between Helicobacter pylori infection, the PHG severity and the content of these factors of apoptosis.
Methods. Immunohistochemical research was held on the gastric mucosa biopsies of patients with PHG, hepatic cirrhosis and PH without signs
of PHG. The normal gastric mucosa examples constituted the control group.
Results. We haven’t revealed statistically reliable differences between groups of patients in dependence on H. pylori presence, and association
between the degree of PHG severity and H. pylori. Bax expression in gastric epithelial cells in PHG patients was significantly lower than in control group
(р<0,05) and in subgroups with the mild and moderate degree of PHG severity in comparison with control (р<0,05). Bax content was also lower in the
group of patients with PH without PHG in comparison with norm (р<0,05). The comparison of the level of Bax expression with H. pylori infection didn’t
reveal any association in all groups. The apoptosis inhibitor Bcl-2 expression was absent in gastric mucosa epithelial cells in all groups in 100% cases.
Conclusion. Our data demonstrate the suppression of mechanisms triggering apoptosis of gastric mucosa epithelial cells in PHG and PH without
signs of PHG, and also show the absence of association with H. pylori.

E.M. Paltseva, T.S. Semenova, S.B. Zhigalova, I.S. Pestin, A.G. Shertsinger
B.V. Petrovsky Russian Surgery Research Center, Abrikosovskiy by-street, 2, Moscow, Russian Federation, 119991