Clinical Gastroenterology Vol.19 No.6(4)

Theme Reconstruction of "Chronic Gastritis" in the Future
Title Relation between Helicobacter pylori Infection and Histological Gastritis
Publish Date 2004/06
Author Masaaki Kodama Department of General Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine
Author Tadayoshi Okimoto Department of General Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine
Author Toshio Fujioka Department of General Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine
Author Ryugo Satoh 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine
Author Kazunari Murakami 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Oita University, Faculty of Medicine
[ Summary ] Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) infection is the main cause of histological chronic gastritis and the persistent infection from this bacterium has been shown to lead to atrophic changes in the gastric mucosa. The variations in inflammatory localization depend on many factors, such as the genetic polymorphism of IL-1 Betas in association with host factors, cag PAI and Cag A associated strains all of which display the cytotoxicity of this bacterium as a bacterial factor, along with many other factors. Long term infection and the association of these factors may also lead to not only atrophic gastritis but also gastric cancer. Chronic atrophic gastritis with H.pylori infection is considered to be one of the precursors of gastric cancer. The atrophic mucosa of the stomach showed cell cycle acceleration, increased quantities of mutant type of p53 in humans and infected animal models. A Mongolian gerbil model showed development of gastric cancer with H.pylori infection alone. Eradication therapy for H.pylori reduced gastric inflammation remarkably. However, one of the most important questions is whether eradication therapy leads to the prevent on of gastric cancer or not. This is still under debate. To clarify this question, further intervention studies are needed.
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