CagA+ H pylori infection is associated with polarization of T helper cell immune responses in gastric carcinogenesis

Table 3 Plasma cytokine contents in patients with CagA+ H pylori infection (mean ± SE, pg/mL)

Pathological diagnosis	IFN-γ	IL-4	IL-12	IL-10	IL-6	IL-2
Normal mucosa (NM, n = 37)	27.46 ± 1.05	10.86 ± 0.62	81.42 ± 1.89	66.92 ± 2.15	47.96 ± 1.99	54.17 ± 1.09
Chronic gastritis (CG, n = 170)	28.94 ± 0.59	11.22 ± 0.45	72.49 ± 0.93	80.65 ± 0.99	63.40 ± 1.57	45.95 ± 0.49
Gastric atrophy (GA, n = 88)	30.48 ± 0.75	11.23 ± 0.33	53.29 ± 0.79	100.80 ± 1.69	94.10 ± 2.57	39.61 ± 0.69
Intestinal metaplasia (IM, n = 80)	31.71 ± 1.02	12.08 ± 0.59	52.18 ± 0.94	104.18 ± 1.90	112.03 ± 2.64	34.07 ± 0.54
Dysplasia (DP, n = 57)	30.14 ± 1.04	10.92 ± 0.39	43.30 ± 1.10	157.72 ± 2.64	156.74 ± 3.66	32.71 ± 0.81
Gastric cancer (GC, n = 74)	31.00 ± 0.84	11.03 ± 0.29	39.10 ± 0.89	196.65 ± 1.83	159.32 ± 2.57	28.39 ± 0.65

There was no difference in the expression of IFN-γ and IL-4 in the plasma of CagA+ H pylori subjects among all the groups. There were significant differences for IL-12 among all the groups except between GA and IM (P = 1.000), DP and GC (P = 0.237). There were significant differences for IL-10 between all groups except between GA and IM (P = 1.000). For IL-6, there were significant differences among all the groups except between DP and GC (P = 1.000). For IL-2, there were significant differences among all the groups except between IM and GA, DP (P = 1.000, P = 1.000).