Characterization of Gastric Tissue-Resident T Cells in Autoimmune and Helicobacter pylori-Associated Gastritis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear authors,

A very interesting topic with a great multidisciplinary value based on these findings.

Nevertheless, I would have some suggestions/commentaries:

• the sample size is very small
• taking into account the major costs related to this procedure, you should focus on designing a selection protocol including the criteria based on which a physician should chose the patients to be tested
• the discussions section should be improved
• the conclusions should focus more on uderlining the practical clinical relevance of your study

Author Response

Reviewer #1

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

A very interesting topic with a great multidisciplinary value based on these findings.

Nevertheless, I would have some suggestions/commentaries:

1. The sample size is very small. Taking into account the major costs related to this procedure, you should focus on designing a selection protocol including the criteria based on which a physician should chose the patients to be tested.

Response: Thank you for taking time to review our manuscript. The eligibility criteria for patient participation are described in the “Materials and Methods” section (Section 4.1. Diagnosis of autoimmune gastritis, active gastritis, and inactive gastritis). We have revised and added several sentences in the “Limitations” section to describe how we selected patients for the present study.

2. The discussions section should be improved.

Response: Thank you for your suggestion. We have rewritten the “Discussion” section for better readability.

3. The conclusions should focus more on underlining the practical clinical relevance of your study.

Response: We have added several sentences in the “Conclusion” section to address this issue.

Reviewer 2 Report

This study showed that CD⁴⁺ /CD³⁺ and CD⁸⁺/CD³⁺ ratios in the greater curvature of the gastric antrum and lesser curvature of the body were different in autoimmune, active, and inactive gastritis. In addition, we proposed antrum CD⁸⁺/CD⁴⁺ > 4.0, as a potential diagnostic marker for autoimmune gastritis, with a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 93.3%.  Antrum CD⁸⁺/CD⁴⁺ ratio > 4.0 is a potential diagnostic marker for autoimmune gastritis. Although the overall interest and visibility of this work, some aspects should still be considered to improve the quality and objectiveness of this work.

• The background of the study should be made very clear. Provide more details of the introduction and review of the work.
• Please speculate about the reasons for the obtained results. The discussion needs to improve.
• In Conclusion, the authors should add the potential practical application.
• The article should need to be reviewed for English language proficiency and grammar. There are a lot of sentences without sense, misspelled words, and punctuation errors.

Author Response

Reviewer #2

This study showed that CD4+ /CD3+ and CD8+/CD3+ ratios in the greater curvature of the gastric antrum and lesser curvature of the body were different in autoimmune, active, and inactive gastritis. In addition, we proposed antrum CD8+/CD4+ > 4.0, as a potential diagnostic marker for autoimmune gastritis, with a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 93.3%.  Antrum CD8+/CD4+ ratio > 4.0 is a potential diagnostic marker for autoimmune gastritis. Although the overall interest and visibility of this work, some aspects should still be considered to improve the quality and objectiveness of this work.

The background of the study should be made very clear. Provide more details of the introduction and review of the work.

Response: We appreciate the reviewer’s valuable suggestion. We have revised several sentences in the “Introduction” section.

Please speculate about the reasons for the obtained results. The discussion needs to improve.

Response: As previously mentioned, we have rewritten the “Discussion” section for better readability.

In Conclusion, the authors should add the potential practical application.

Response: Thank you for your suggestion. We have added several sentences in the “Conclusion” section to include aspects of the practical application of our findings.

The article should need to be reviewed for English language proficiency and grammar. There are a lot of sentences without sense, misspelled words, and punctuation errors.

Response: We regret that there were problems with the English language quality in the article. The revised manuscript has been carefully reviewed by a professional language editing service to improve grammar and readability.