A Comprehensive Review on Helicobacter pylori Infection and Gastric Cancer

Background :

The Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a spiral-shaped, gram-negative, motile and microaerophilic bacterium in which the human stomach is the single natural reservoir.

This review study indicates the possible contribution of H. pylori infection as one of the recognized vital agents for the development of gastric malignancies.

Journal online databases such as Science Direct, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Wiley Online Library were investigated through keywords “Helicobacter pylori”, “Gastric Malignancy”, “Gene therapy” and “Nanotechnology”. Studies were subjected to the present review study if they met our relevance and quality criteria.

We will discuss different virulence elements of H. pylori comprising cytotoxin-related gene A, vacuolating cytotoxin A, as well as various outer membrane proteins leading to malignancy through various mechanisms.

We also provide insight into the possible presence and role of a gastric malignancy stem cell in the tumors with the capability to initiate sustain self-renewal and tumor growth and novel strategies against H. pylori such as gene therapy, immunotherapy, immunoinformatics, antibiotic resistance, and nanotechnology aimed to provide a rationale view for new therapeutic approaches that are reviewed in the current study.