DOI: 10.21276/sjams Available online at http://saspublisher.com/sjams/ 1230 Scholars Journal of Applied Medical Sciences (SJAMS) ISSN 2320-6691 (Online) Sch. J. App. Med. Sci., 2017; 5(4A):1230-1239 ISSN 2347-954X (Print) ©Scholars Academic and Scientific Publisher (An International Publisher for Academic and Scientific Resources) www.saspublisher.com Prevalence of H. pylori Infection and Atrophic Gastritis among dyspeptic subjects in Cameroon using a Panel of Serum Biomarkers (PGI, PGII, G-17, HpIgG) Ebule I.A., 1,2 Djune, Fokou, A. K, 1,2 Sitedjeya, Moko, I. L 2 , Tanni B., 3 Heugueu C 2 , Longdoh A.N, 4 Noah Noah D 5 , Okomo Assoumou M.C 6 , Paloheimo L 7 , Njoya O 8 , Syrjanen K 7 1 Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Cameroon 2 School of laboratory Technologies, Yaounde, Cameroon 3 Protestant University of Central Africa 4 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Buea, Cameroon 5 Yaounde Central Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceuticals Sciences, University of Douala, Cameroon 6 National Public Health laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde, Cameroon 7 Biohit HealthCare Oyj, Helsinki, Finland 8 University Teaching Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde, Cameroon *Corresponding author Alonge Ivo Ebule Email: alolevo@yahoo.com/alonge.ivo@ubuea.cm Abstract: H. pylori infection induces chronic active gastritis that develops with time in a proportion of infected people to atrophic gastritis (AG) and acid free or hypochlorhydric stomach. Objective: Use of a non-invasive serum biomaker test [Pepsinogen-I (PG-I) and -II (PG-II), amidated gastrin-17 (G- 17), and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) IgG antibodies], to determine the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and atrophic gastritis (AG), both known to increase the risk of gastric cancer (GC). Subjects consulting for various dyspeptic complaints were prospectively recruited on voluntary basis at the Tombel District Hospital, Yaounde Central Hospital and University Teaching Hospital, from 2008 to 2016. 287 were enrolled 18-84 years (mean±SD 40.08±15.37), including 80 males aged 22-84 years (mean±SD 45.15±15.72) and 207 females aged 18-83 years (mean±SD 46.43±15.24) were examined with a panel of biomarkers. The results were assigned in five categories according to the test panel: 1) Healthy stomach, 2) superficial or non atrophic gastritis associated H. pylori infection, 3) atrophic gastritis (AG) of the corpus, 4) AG of the antrum, and 5) AG of both antrum and corpus (pangastritis). Results: 51 (17.8%) of the subjects were interpreted as normal.226(78.7%) were positive for H. pylori (all cases included), 209 (72.8%) had H pylori-infection (with superficial or no atrophic gastritis). 27 subjects (9.4%) presented with the Gastro Panel results consistent with mucosal atrophy, including atrophic gastritis of the antrum (n=9, 3.1%), corpus, (n=10, 3.5%) or both, pangastritis (n=8, 3.1%). Keywords: Prevalence, H. pylori Infection, Atrophic Gastritis, dyspeptic, Serum Biomarkers INTRODUCTION Dyspeptic symptoms are among the most common gastric complaints, experienced by 25-40% of the people during their lifetime. The most common cause of dyspepsia is gastritis. Infection with spiral rod shaped bacteria Helicobacter pylori is now identified as the causal factor for several clinically important diseases in gastric and duodenal mucosa [1]. In 1994, the IARC expert group classified H pylori infection as a group-I carcinogen for humans [2]. This bacterial infection (usually acquired in childhood) initially affects only the antral mucosa causing superficial gastritis. If not eradicated, H pylori-infection remains chronic and progresses to corpus-predominant gastritis or pangastritis, with mucosal atrophy as the end result [1]. H. pylori infection induces chronic active gastritis that develops with time in a proportion of infected people to atrophic gastritis (AG) and acid free or hypochlorhydric stomach [3]. Chronic gastritis is one of the most common life-long, serious and insidious illnesses in human beings and it has been estimate that more than half of the world population has this disease in some degree and extent, indicating that even many hundreds of millions of people worldwide may have Original Research Article