Background: Cardiac syndrome X (CSX) is a condition in which patients have the pain of angina despite normal coronary angiogram. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection causes chronic inflammation which may play a pathogenic role in CSX. We surveyed the association of inflammation with H. pylori and its virulent strain (cytotoxin-associated gene A positive; CagA+) infections with CSX.
Material and methods: Sixty patients with CSX (38 women/22 men; mean age: 51.8 ± 12.3) and 60 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (39 women/21 men; mean age: 48.9 ± 6.3) were enrolled. Plasma samples were tested for the presence of IgG antibody to H. pylori using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. IgG- positive patients were determined by the presence of IgG antibody to CagA, also by ELISA method. Also, plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were measured by ELISA method.
Results: Patients with CSX were detected to have significantly higher plasma IL-6 and TNF-α level in comparison with normal controls (33.6 ± 3.5 vs 3.2 ± 0.4 and 24.2 ± 2.3 vs 3.1 ± 0.4, respectively; p < 0.01). The plasma levels of these inflammatory factors in CgA+ were significantly higher than those in CagA- (CSX: IL-6: 43.05 ± 5.04 vs 23.97 ± 4.58 and TNF-α: 31.43 ± 3.13 vs 16.47 ± 2.93, CONTROLS: IL-6: 3.52 ± 1.39 vs 2.90 ± 0.67 and TNF-α: 5.39 ± 1.17 vs 2.22 ± 0.43, respectively; p < 0.05).
Conclusion: The CagA+ strain of H. pylori, can not only be a trigger, and may also have a role via chronic inflammation in the pathogenesis of CSX.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.