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H. pylori infection associated with reduced risk for MS in women
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Women who tested positive for Helicobacter pylori infection were less likely to develop multiple sclerosis, according to new research data.
“The results from this research may indicate that H. pylori has a protective effect against MS and also bolsters evidence for the role of the hygiene hypothesis in autoimmune diseases,” Allan G. Kermode, MBBS, MD, FRACP, FRCP, from the Western Australian Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of Western Australia and the Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Murdoch University, said in a press release.
Allan G. Kermode
Prompted by contradictory findings regarding the association between H. pylori infection and multiple sclerosis (MS) based on a small number of patients, Kermode and colleagues studied 412 white patients (75% women; mean age, 47.7 years) from Western Australia who had MS and were enrolled in the Perth Demyelinating Disease Database. Serum samples were collected from these patients between 2007 and 2011, and they were gender- and age-matched to 299 controls from the Busselton Community Health Study. An enzyme immunoassay was used to detect IgG antibodies to H. pylori.
They found that H. pylori seropositivity was lower in patients with MS compared with controls (16% vs. 21%; P=.045 adjusted for gender), but the differences pertained almost exclusively to the women (P=.03; P=1 for men). Adjusting for age at onset, year of birth and disease duration, H. pylori-positive females had lower Extended Disability Status Scale scores compared with negative females (P=.049) while the opposite was true for males (P=.025). There was no association between H. pylori seropositivity and relapse rate (P=.61).
“In summary, H. pylori infection is associated with a slight but significant reduction of MS risk in Western Australian women,” the researchers concluded. “The reason why the influence of H. pylori infection on MS risk affects females only is unknown and warrants further investigation.”
“Interestingly, H. pylori seropositivity was significantly associated with lower disability scores in female patients with MS only, suggesting a protective effect of H. pylori infection,” Jun-ichi Kira, MD, PhD, department of neurology, Neurological Institute, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Japan, wrote in an accompanying editorial. “Collectively, such an inverse correlation of H. pylori infection with MS in developed countries, where MS and allergic disorders have increased, may support the ‘hygiene hypothesis.’ Although why the protective effects of H. pylori against MS were observed in women only remains to be elucidated, but might explain the recent increase of female-male ratio of MS in developed countries.”
For more information:
Kira J. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015;doi:10.1136/jnnp-2014-309759.
Pedrini MJF. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2015;doi:10.1136/jnnp-2014-309495.
Disclosure: Pedrini reports no relevant financial disclosures. Kira reports being a consultant for Biogen Idec and receiving honoraria from Bayer Healthcare. See the study for a full list of other researchers’ financial disclosures.