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

Table 4 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 = 11)	29.28 ± 0.54	11.07 ± 0.89	82.17 ± 4.59	67.29 ± 3.26	48.37 ± 4.01	54.11 ± 2.87
Chronic gastritis (CG, n = 62)	29.19 ± 1.18	10.89 ± 0.27	64.59 ± 3.10	80.25 ± 1.87	57.99 ± 2.61	53.14 ± 1.25
Gastric atrophy (GA, n = 16)	30.25 ± 2.01	10.67 ± 0.67	49.67 ± 3.28	91.28 ± 3.19	92.56 ± 5.79	42.33 ± 2.32
Intestinal metaplasia (IM, n = 15)	28.91 ± 2.23	11.08 ± 0.74	48.19 ± 2.99	98.11 ± 4.08	98.20 ± 5.92	40.98 ± 2.38
Dysplasia (DP, n = 8)	31.08 ± 2.19	11.01 ± 1.27	42.64 ± 5.49	157.09 ± 6.81	147.65 ± 6.89	34.79 ± 3.05
Gastric cancer (GC, n = 11)	28.06 ± 2.45	12.07 ± 0.91	38.97 ± 3.29	185.29 ± 9.38	154.68 ± 6.78	30.29 ± 2.11

There was no difference in the expression of IFN-γ and IL-4 in plasma of subjects with CagA- H pylori infection among all the groups (P_all > 0.05). For IL-12, there were significant differences between CG and GA, IM, DP, and GC (P < 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.001). For IL-10, there were significant differences between all the groups except between GA and CG and IM (P_all > 0.05). For IL-6, there were significant differences among all the groups except between GA and IM (P = 1.000) and DP and GC (P = 1.000). For IL-2, there were significant differences between CG and GA, IM, DP, and GC (P_all < 0.001) and between IM and GC (P < 0.05).