The clearance effect of bovine anti- Helicobacter pylori antibody-containing milk in O blood group Helicobacter pylori -infected patients: a randomized double-blind clinical trial

Background The failure in standard triple therapy has recently increased to high levels in China, primarily because of insufficient patient compliance, antimicrobial resistance, and high costs. Effective prevention and eradication of Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) by artificial passive immunization with orally administered bovine antibodies in the milk has been demonstrated in many animal studies, but the clinical studies that are available have shown no H. pylori eradication. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of orally administered bovine anti- H. pylori antibodies for the clearance of H. pylori infecting O blood group subpopulations. Methods Two local epidemic H. pylori strains that were prevalent locally were screened and then used to immunize dairy cows. After confirmation of the presence of anti- H. pylori polyclonal antibodies in the milk by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the milk was subsequently defatted and processed into sterile milk by pasteurization. This study was designed as a double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. Our 61 H. pylori -infected O blood group subjects were assigned to two groups; 31 subjects were treated with bovine milk containing antibodies and 30 subjects with the placebo. The medication-based study was continued for 28 days. Subjects were followed up for 56 days. The effect was assessed by the C-14 urea breath test (UBT). SPSS 17.0 software for Windows was used to analyze the data. Results Of the 61 subjects enrolled, 58 completed the protocol. One volunteer in the antibodies group and two volunteers in the control group dropped out. Of the 30 antibody-treated subjects, 13 became UBT negative, whereas none of the 30 of the placebo-treated subjects became UBT negative after the medication. Of 13 UBT negative patients, 3 became positive again at the end of the follow-up. Both intention to treat and per-protocol analysis indicated a significant difference in the clearance rate of infected patients between the groups treated with bovine antibody-containing milk and the placebo (P = 0.001, P < 0.05) and no significant difference in adverse effects (P > 0.05 all). Conclusions Bovine antibody-based oral immunotherapy appears to be safe and has a significant clearance effect on intragastric H. pylori that infects O blood group adults. Trial registration: ChiCTR-TRC-14005212.