Initially, doctors did not believe that bacteria could live in the stomach at all. Too acidic, they thought. But in 1984, a young Australian doctor named Barry Marshall drank the infamous concoction. beef soup tied with Helicobacter pylori bacteria.upon 8th day, he started vomiting. An endoscopy on the 10th day revealed the following: Helicobacter pylori His stomach was infested with colonies whose distinctive spiral shape was unmistakable under a microscope.
If left untreated, Helicobacter pylori A lifelong infection is usually established; they are common: Port for half the world’s population Helicobacter pylori That’s what more than 1 in 3 Americans have in their stomachs. In most cases, the organism settles into an asymptomatic chronic infection, but in some cases it becomes much more troublesome. For example, it can cause enough damage to the stomach lining to form an ulcer. Even worse, Helicobacter pylori May cause cancer. This single bacterium is by far the number one risk factor. stomach cancer World wide. According to some estimates, approximately 70 percent may be due to: Helicobacter pylori.
But what still puzzles doctors all these years later is why Helicobacter pylori Results vary greatly from person to person. Why is it asymptomatic in most people but carcinogenic in others? The complete answer is complex, but one important factor is: Helicobacter pylori itself. Not all stocks are created equal.The presence of the selected gene is strengthened Helicobacter pyloripathogenicity, even a single mutation in a single gene. Scientists recently discovered, increasing its association with cancer. Tiny genetic tweaks in common stomach bugs can have profound effects on us, their unwitting hosts.
Helicobacter pylori It has lived within us for a long time. Our ancestors who left Africa probably brought it with them as they crossed continents and oceans, built and destroyed civilizations. And it’s more than what some scientists have hypothesized. 100,000 years of co-evolution, Helicobacter pylori It is exquisitely adapted to the harsh acidic conditions of the human stomach.
For example, they survive by producing “large amounts” of enzymes that neutralize stomach acid, said Richard Peek, a gastroenterologist at Vanderbilt University. Helicobacter pylori They can also use their powerful whip-like flagella to burrow into the mucus gel lining of the stomach. The mucus lining has the following effects: relative haven It is produced from stomach acid, but it also has other benefits underneath. It is a cell in the stomach that is rich in nutrients that bacteria need to survive.
how to do that Helicobacter pylori Stealing nutrients may be the key to ultimately causing cancer. This bacterium is not necessarily trying to harm its human host. “Helicobacter pylori “You don’t want it to develop into an ulcer or cancer, but it needs to grow to a sufficient level in your stomach that you can potentially infect others,” says Nina, a biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Salama told me. (This bacteria appears to spread through the body of an infected person) saliva, vomit, or feces) But to reproduce, it needs nutrients, especially iron, which our cells presumably store. starve the pathogen.
Depending on this, certain strains of Helicobacter pylori evolved genetic changes that could make iron mining more efficient. However, this causes even more collateral damage to the host’s stomach, perhaps enough damage to eventually cause cancer. First, the bacteria use a protein called HtrA (essentially “molecular scissors”) to sever the bonds that hold stomach cells together, allowing the microbe to slip between them. A recent study by a Germany-based group found that a single mutation in this scissor protein increases its cutting ability. studyand this mutation is seen disproportionately Helicobacter pylori A strain isolated from people who developed stomach cancer.
one time Helicobacter pylori They also have a clever way of getting between cells and accessing nutrients inside. Certain strains are A set of approximately 18 genes These collectively encode the molecular needle; Helicobacter pylori It injects bacterial proteins and causes a series of changes in the cells.These hijacked cells eventually become It becomes easier to let go of ironbut it also degrades important features such as: repair damaged DNA. This set of approximately 18 genes is collectively known as “cag Pathogenicity islands’ are indeed disproportionately detected in strains from cancer patients. Therefore, gastric cancer may be a secondary consequence of the active search for nutrients by microorganisms.for Helicobacter pylori“There is no selective pressure to cause cancer in 80 years. The selective pressure is to acquire iron now,” said Karen Guilmin, a microbiologist at the University of Oregon.
However, not everyone infected with one of these cancer-related strains will develop cancer. Other factors may also play a role, such as an individual patient’s diet, environment, and genetics. The incidence of gastric cancer varies widely around the world, with the highest prevalence in East Asia. In Japan, doctors regularly perform the following tests: Helicobacter pylori in people without symptoms, and prescribe antibiotics if the test is positive. However, some scientists opposed aggressive treatmentpoints out hints that humans can derive some benefits from coexisting. Helicobacter pylori Too. For example, infected people tend to be less contagious. Asthma and allergy rates.Genetic characteristics associated with more pathogenicity Helicobacter pylori Peek says these strains can help identify people who are most at risk and could benefit most from antibiotics.
Marshall, the Australian doctor who infected himself Helicobacter pylori, eventually recovered well. His self-experiments, along with other research with his collaborator Robin Warren, proved that this bacterium can indeed infect the stomach and actually cause stomach ulcers. Helicobacter pylori For cancer.Understand exactly how and why Helicobacter pylori Becoming pathogenic remains the key to finding a cure, but its importance has become clear over the past 40 years. Helicobacter pylori The impact on human health has become so indisputable that Marshall and Warren won the presidential election in 2005. Nobel Prize medical doctor.
