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H. pylori (Helicobacter pylori) and the Microbiome

Is H. pylori (Helicobacter pylori) a pathogen? Should we eradicate it? Does it have any benefits?

General:

Editorial, 2022: Helicobacter pylori: Have potential benefits been overlooked? https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgh3.12842

Meta-Analysis, 2020: The Effect of Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Patients with Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Studies https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/504086 "H. pylori eradication may lead to the development of new erosive GERD"

Review, Feb 2019: Impact of the Gastro-Intestinal Bacterial Microbiome on Helicobacter-Associated Diseases https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/7/1/34/htm

Review, 2018: Considering gut microbiota disturbance in the management of Helicobacter pylori infection https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17474124.2018.1503946 The purpose of this review is to explore the reciprocal interplay between Hp infection and gut microbiota and analyze how microbial changes can influence the management of Hp eradication therapies.

Review, 2018: Helicobacter pylori in human health and disease: Mechanisms for local gastric and systemic effects https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v24/i28/3071.htm

Review, 2014: Helicobacter pylori: A Beneficial Gastric Pathogen? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4291894/

Review, 2014: Helicobacter pylori: beneficial for most? https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1586/egh.11.69

H. pylori bacteria are classified as carcinogenic (cancer-causing) to humans. But among people infected with the bacteria, only 1 to 3% develop stomach cancer, which suggests that other factors are involved in its development. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-bacteria-commonly-body-contribute-stomach.html

Covered in "Missing Microbes". The original scientist who infected himself actually cleared the infection prior to taking the antibiotic. And it was shown later that the antibiotic he took was not effective by itself against h. pylori. Associated with stomach cancer, but eliminating it leads to GERD. Protective against asthma. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/health/scientist-examines-possible-link-between-antibiotics-and-obesity.html

The Bacterium Disappearing From Our Stomachs. A primer on the gut bacterium Helicobacter pylori, and the controversy surrounding it. https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/the-bacterium-disappearing-from-our-stomachs/

H. pylori-negative gastritis is not associated with endoscopic or symptomatic gastritis. Only H. pylori-induced endoscopic gastritis requires gastric cancer surveillance. Owing to the weak correlation with H. pylori, symptomatic gastritis should be assessed separately from histological and endoscopic gastritis. (2019): https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/8/3/312/htm

H. pylori eradication with antibiotic treatment causes changes in glucose homeostasis related to modifications in the gut microbiota (Mar 2019): https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0213548

Cancer prevention drug also disables H. pylori bacterium https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190328150954.htm. Difluoromethylornithine reduces gastric carcinogenesis by causing mutations in Helicobacter pylori cagY (Mar 2019): http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1814497116

Harmful:

Having the common stomach bacteria Helicobacter pylori more than doubles the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients taking daily low-dose aspirin (2018): https://www.racgp.org.au/newsGP/Clinical/Aspirin-doubles-bleeding-risk-for-people-with-comm

The eradication of Helicobacter pylori restores rather than disturbs the gastrointestinal microbiota in asymptomatic young adults (May 2019) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hel.12590

Helicobacter pylori Infection Aggravates Dysbiosis of Gut Microbiome in Children With Gastritis (Nov 2019) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2019.00375/full - used KEGG pathways, Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes ratio, and other measurements. They claim causation.

Helicobacter pylori infection has a detrimental impact on the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies (Jul 2021, mice and humans) https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/11/gutjnl-2020-323392

Strains of H. pylori that contain the "cag PAI" gene cluster are associated with higher cancer risk. (Jun 2020, gerbils) https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-strains-stomach-bacteria-contribute-gastric.html

FMT:

The Efficacy of Washed Microbiota Transplantation on Helicobacter pylori Eradication: A Pilot Study (Oct 2020) https://www.hindawi.com/journals/grp/2020/8825189/ "H. pylori infection is eradicated in a proportion of patients who have received WMT"

Long-term effects of fecal microbiota transplantation on gut microbiota after Helicobacter pylori eradication with bismuth quadruple therapy: A randomized controlled trial (Jul 2024, n=30) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hel.13079 "FMT can alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms even if there was no evidence it promoted restoration of intestinal flora"

Risk of Helicobacter pylori transmission by faecal microbiota transplantation via oral capsules (Feb 2023) https://www.clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com/article/S1198-743X(23)00081-2/fulltext "We found no occurrence of H. pylori transmission from healthy, asymptomatic donors to recipients by oral capsule-based FMT"

Probiotics:

"According to the literature, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus reuteri, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, and Saccharomyces boulardii can effectively eradicate H. pylori infection" https://bmcgastroenterol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12876-021-01977-1 Probiotics as the live microscopic fighters against Helicobacter pylori gastric infections (Oct 2021, review)