The relationship of parietal cell, gastrin cell, and thyroid autoantibodies to the state of the gastric mucosa in a population sample.

The occurrence of tissue autoantibodies in relationship to fundal and antral gastritis was examined in an Estonian rural population sample, consisting of 227 persons 15 to 69 years of age. The state of the gastric mucosa was verified with multiple biopsy specimens obtained at direct-vision gastroscopy. Isolated fundal gastritis was characterized as the presence of parietal cell (PCA) and/or thyroid antibodies. PCA was seen only in persons with normal antral mucosa. On the other hand, gastrin cell antibodies (GCA) showed no correlation to the extent of antral gastritis, being seen in normal antrum or in superficial or slight atrophic gastritis but not in moderate or severe gastritis. The findings of our present study thus strengthen the view that the occurrence of PCA is mainly limited to isolated fundal gastritis and excludes the occurrence of antral gastritis. On the other hand, an association of GCA and antral gastritis could not be established.