Innate immunity - the hallmark of infection in pediatric chronic gastritis.

Background: Innate immunity was found to be associated with both persistence of infection and increased risk of gastric cancer.

Aim: To identify the risk factors associated with infection and to establish the role of TLR9 rs352140 in suppressing or promoting inflammation related to this infection in children.

Methods: We performed a study of 155 children with digestive symptoms, who were divided into two groups according to the histopathological exam: Group 1 - 48 children with -induced chronic gastritis, and Group 2 - control group.

Results: Rural area and poor living conditions were significantly associated with chronic gastritis ( = 0.0042/ < 0.0001). Both positive immunoglobulin A anti and the rapid urease test were significantly associated with infection ( < 0.0001). Significantly higher values of leukocytes and neutrophils within the peripheral blood were found in children with chronic gastritis ( = 0.111/ = 0.284). We found a significant positive correlation between the variant TT genotype of TLR9 rs352140 polymorphism and both leucocytes and neutrophils ( = 0.0225/ = 0.0292).

Conclusion: Variant TT genotype carriers of the TLR9 rs352140 gene polymorphism might have a more severe degree of inflammation.