Abstract:Objective To investigate the significance of serum soluble human leukocyte antigen-G (sHLA-G) and pepsinogen ratio (PGR) combined with Helicobacter pylori (Hp) detection in the screening of early gastric cancer in the elderly.Methods The clinical data of 223 patients who were examined for gastric discomfort in our hospital from February 2020 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Statistics of clinical pathological examination results were recorded. The serum sHLA-G and PGR levels and the positive rate of Hp in patients with different lesion types were compared. The clinical data of gastric cancer group and non-gastric cancer group were compared. Logistic multivariate regression analysis of factors affecting the occurrence of early gastric cancer in the elderly population. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was prepared, and the area under the curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the value of serum sHLA-G, PGR level, Hp, and their combination for early gastric cancer screening in the elderly.Results The pathological examination results of 223 patients were finally clinically diagnosed, including 36 patients with early gastric cancer, 52 patients with precancerous lesions, 60 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis, and 75 patients with chronic superficial gastritis. The levels of serum sHLA-G, and Hp positive rate in patients with gastric cancer, precancerous lesions, and atrophic gastritis were higher than those in patients with chronic superficial gastritis, but the PGR level was lower (P < 0.05). The serum levels of sHLA-G, and Hp positive rate in patients with gastric cancer and precancerous lesions were higher than those in patients with atrophic gastritis, but the PGR level was lower (P < 0.05). The serum sHLA-G and the positive rate of Hp in patients with gastric cancer were higher than those in patients with precancerous lesions, but the PGR level was lower (P < 0.05). The proportion of irregular diet, the proportion of liking hot / cold food, the proportion of liking heavy-salt diet, the levels of gastrin-17, sHLA-G, PGⅡ, and the proportion of Hp positive in the gastric cancer group were higher than those in the non-gastric cancer group, but the PGⅠ and PGR levels were lower (P < 0.05). Logistic multivariate analysis showed that preference for heavy salt diet [O^R = 2.790 (95% CI: 1.009, 4.873) ], gastrin-17 [O^R = 2.956 (95% CI: 1.056, 5.083) ], sHLA-G [O^R = 3.766 (95% CI: 2.083, 10.459) ], PGR [O^R = 3.374 (95% CI: 1.845, 76.762) ], and Hp positive [O^R = 3.124 (95% CI: 1.349, 5.386) ] were the risk factors for the occurrence of early gastric cancer in the elderly (P < 0.05). The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the sensitivity of serum sHLA-G, PGR, Hp, and their combination for early gastric cancer screening in the elderly population was 77.78% (95% CI: 60.41, 89.27), 72.22% (95% CI: 54.57, 85.21), 80.56% (95% CI: 63.43, 91.20), and 69.44% (95% CI: 51.73, 83.08), the specificity was 65.24% (95% CI: 57.90, 71.95), 74.87% (95% CI: 67.91, 80.78), 54.55% (95% CI: 47.12, 61.78), 96.79% (95% CI: 92.83, 98.69), and the AUC were 0.717 (95% CI: 0.653, 0.775), 0.686 (95% CI: 0.621, 0.746), 0.676 (95% CI: 0.610, 0.736), 0.883 (95% CI: 0.833, 0.922).Conclusion The detection of serum sHLA-G and PGR combined with Hp is of high value in the screening of early gastric cancer in the elderly, and can provide an important reference value for the diagnosis of gastric cancer in the elderly.