Introduction: Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with decreased alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity in the gastric mucosa. The decrease in gastric ADH activity depends on the severity of inflammation and mucosal injury. This damage can be a reason of the release of enzyme from gastric mucosa and leads to the increase of the ADH activity in the sera of patients with H. pylori infection.
Material and methods: Serum samples were taken from 140 patients with H. pylori infection. Total ADH activity was measured by photometric method with p-nitrosodimethylaniline as a substrate and ALDH activity by the fluorometric method with 6-methoxy-2-naphtaldehyde. For the measurement of the activity of class I and II isoenzymes we employed the fluorometric methods, with class-specific fluorogenic substrates. The activity of class III ADH was measured by the photometric method with n-octanol and class IV with m-nitrobenzaldehyde as a substrate.
Results: The activity of ADH IV in the serum of patients with H. pylori infection increased about 42% (7.86 mU/l) in the comparison to the control level (4.52 mU/l). Total activity of ADH was 1105 mU/l in patients group and 682 mU/l in control. The diagnostic sensitivity for ADH IV was 88%, specificity 90%, positive and negative predictive values were 91% and 84% respectively. Area under ROC curve for ADH IV was 0.84.
Conclusions: Helicobacter pylori infection of gastric mucosa is reflected in the serum by significant increase of class IV and total ADH activity. The results suggest a potential role for ADH IV as a marker of H. pylori infection.