Thrombospondin-1 and VEGF in inflammatory bowel disease

Angiogenesis is an important process in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammation. We aimed to study the angiogeneic balance in inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] by evaluating the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor [VEGF] and thrombospondin-1 [TSP-1] on colonic epithelial cells, together with the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase [iNOS]. Twenty-one ulcerative colitis [UC], 14 Crohn's disease [CD], 11 colorectal cancer patients, and 11 healthy controls colonic biopsy samples were evaluated immunohistochemically. The expressions of TSP-1, VEGF, and iNOS in UC and CD groups were higher than expression in healthy control group, all with statistical significance. However, in colorectal cancer group, VEGF and iNOS expressions were increased importantly, but TSP-1 expression was not statistically different from healthy control group's expression. Both TSP-1 and VEGF expressions were correlated with iNOS expression distinctly but did not correlate with each other. Both pro-angiogeneic VEGF and antiangiogeneic TSP-1 expressions were found increased in our IBD groups, but in colorectal cancer group, only VEGF expression was increased. TSP-1 increases in IBD patients as a response to inflammatory condition, but this increase was not enough to suppress pathologic angiogenesis and inflammation in IBD

Effectiveness of ranitidine bismuth citrate and proton pump inhibitor based triple therapies of Helicobacter pylori in Turkey

Helicobacter pylori infection is the main cause of gastritis, gastroduodenal ulcer disease, MALT lymphoma, and adenocarcinoma of the stomach. The reported prevalence of H. pylori in the adult population in Turkey is 67.6%-81.3%. A national meta-analysis showed that the average H. pylori eradication rate with proton pump inhibitor-based triple regimens in Turkey had decreased from 84% in 1997 to 55.3% in 2004, suggesting a need to evaluate alternative regimens. Materials and The study was a prospective, single-center trial with a parallel group design. After the selection procedure, consecutive out-patients were assigned to one of six study groups using random sampling numbers. All patients received amoxicillin 1,000 mg b.i.d. and clarithromycin 500 mg b.i.d. along with ranitidine bismuth citrate 400 mg b.i.d., or omeprazole 20 mg b.i.d., or lansoprazole 30 mg b.i.d., or rabeprazole 20 mg b.i.d., or pantoprazole 40 mg b.i.d., or esomeprazole 40 mg b.i.d. for 14 days. When we look at the eradication rates of the treatment groups, only two groups [ranitidine bismuth citrate and rabeprazole groups] had eradication rates greater than 80%, both at intention to treat and per protocol analyses. The other four groups [omeprazole, lansoprazole, pantoprazole, and esomeprazole groups] showed statistically significant lower eradication rates both at intention to treat [between 57.6 and 66.7%] and per protocol [between 60.3 and 72.1%] analyses when compared with ranitidine bismuth citrate and rabeprazole groups [p<.05]. Ranitidine bismuth citrate and/or rabeprazole based triple therapies must be preferred for the first-line treatment of H. pylori infection