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Iron status determination in individuals with Helicobacter pylori infection: conventional vs. new laboratory biomarkers

  • Dietmar Enko EMAIL logo , Helga Wagner , Gernot Kriegshäuser , Julia Wögerer , Gabriele Halwachs-Baumann , Wolfgang J. Schnedl , Sieglinde Zelzer , Günter Fauler , Harald Mangge , Herrmann Markus and Andreas Meinitzer
Published/Copyright: January 7, 2019
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 57 Issue 7

Abstract

Background

Helicobacter pylori has been associated with iron deficiency (ID). This study is aimed at investigating ID with conventional (ferritin, transferrin saturation [TSAT]) and new biomarkers (soluble transferrin receptor [sTfR], sTfR/log ferritin, reticulocyte hemoglobin content [CHr], hepcidin-25) in patients sub-grouped by the presence or absence of H. pylori infection.

Methods

In total, 200 consecutive outpatients, who were referred for the H. pylori13C-urea breath test (13C-UBT), underwent blood testing for ID. Additionally, Thomas-plot (TP)-analyses (sTfR/log ferritin, CHr) were calculated.

Results

Fifty-three and 147 individuals were found with and without H. pylori infection, respectively. Patients with H. pylori infection showed a higher sTfR concentration (p<0.02) and a higher sTfR/log ferritin ratio (p<0.05). Based on a ferritin <30 μg/L and/or a TSAT <20%, 25/53 (47.2%) patients with H. pylori infection and 63/147 (42.9%) without H. pylori infection showed ID. Based on TP-analyses, 10/53 (18.9%) patients with and 17/147 (11.6%) without H. pylori infection were identified with ID. Completed eradication therapy tended to be associated with functional ID.

Conclusions

Helicobacter pylori infection was associated with significantly higher plasma sTfR concentrations and sTfR/log ferritin ratios. Patients with H. pylori eradication therapy were more often detected with functional ID compared to patients without eradication therapy, when using the new biomarkers.

Keywords: biomarkers; Helicobacter pylori; iron deficiency; iron metabolism
Corresponding author: Dietmar Enko, MD, Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, General Hospital Steyr, Sierningerstr. 170, 4400 Steyr, Austria; and Clinical Institute of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria, Phone: +43 50554 66 25307, Fax: +43 50554 66 25304

  1. Author contributions: DE wrote the manuscript. All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: None declared.

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2018-1182).

Received: 2018-11-03
Accepted: 2018-12-05
Published Online: 2019-01-07
Published in Print: 2019-06-26

©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2018-1182
Keywords for this article
biomarkers; Helicobacter pylori; iron deficiency; iron metabolism

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Epigenetics in cancer: a promising path to follow?
  4. Reviews
  5. The circulating miRNAs as diagnostic and prognostic markers
  6. Analytical barriers in clinical B-type natriuretic peptide measurement and the promising analytical methods based on mass spectrometry technology
  7. Mini Review
  8. Commutability of reference and control materials: an essential factor for assuring the quality of measurements in Laboratory Medicine
  9. EFLM Paper
  10. Preanalytical challenges – time for solutions
  11. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  12. Iron status determination in individuals with Helicobacter pylori infection: conventional vs. new laboratory biomarkers
  13. Harmonizing by reducing inter-run variability: performance evaluation of a quality assurance program for antinuclear antibody detection by indirect immunofluorescence
  14. Increased prevalence of anti-DFS70 antibodies in young females: experience from a large international multi-center study on blood donors
  15. Accuracy of determination of the glomerular filtration marker iohexol by European laboratories as monitored by external quality assessment
  16. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU): new preanalytic aspects
  17. Monitoring the effectiveness of hypothermia in perinatal asphyxia infants by urinary S100B levels
  18. Hematology and Coagulation
  19. Determination of haemoglobin derivatives in aged dried blood spot to estimate haematocrit
  20. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  21. A study of biological and lifestyle factors, including within-subject variation, affecting concentrations of growth differentiation factor 15 in serum
  22. Reference intervals for thyroid-stimulating hormone, free thyroxine, and free triiodothyronine in elderly Chinese persons
  23. Cancer Diagnostics
  24. Extracellular vesicle-associated miRNAs in ovarian cancer – design of an integrated NGS-based workflow for the identification of blood-based biomarkers for platinum-resistance
  25. Evaluating the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum long non-coding RNA CTC-497E21.4 in gastric cancer
  26. A pilot study of new promising non-coding RNA diagnostic biomarkers for early-stage colorectal cancers
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  28. Prognostic role of GDF-15 across the spectrum of clinical risk in patients with NSTE-ACS
  29. Acute-phase dynamics and prognostic value of growth differentiation factor-15 in ST-elevation myocardial infarction
  30. Diabetes
  31. Lipid profile and genetic status in a familial hypercholesterolemia pediatric population: exploring the LDL/HDL ratio
  32. Letters to the Editor
  33. The search for a new test of early cancer detection
  34. Need of a dedicated isotopic internal standard for accurate 3-epi-25(OH)D3 quantification by LC-MS/MS
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