AIMS Helicobacter pylori infection is the major cause of peptic ulceration and gastric cancer, and an important virulence determinant is its vacuolating cytotoxin vacA. Previously, we have described allelic variation in vacA which determines toxin activity and disease risk. Here we aimed to quantify vacA mRNA expression in the human stomach, define its genetic determinants and assess how well i...

SIR,-Gastric microbiology has been sadly neglected. Half the patients coming to gastroscopy and biopsy show bacterial colonisation of their stomachs, a colonisation remarkable for the constancy of both the bacteria involved and the associated histological changes. During the past three years I have observed small curved and S-shaped bacilli in 135 gastric biopsy specimens. The bacteria were clo...

Helicobacter pylori are responsible for the induction of chronic gastric inflammation progressing to atrophy, metaplasia, and gastric cancer. The overexpression of Cathepsin X/Z (Ctsz) in H. pylori-infected mucosa and gastric cancer is mediated predominantly by an augmented migration of ctsz(-/-)positive macrophages and the up-regulation of Ctsz in tumor epithelium. To explore the Ctsz-function...

Inflammation seems to play a critical role in the development of many types of cancer, including gastric, colorectal, and bladder cancers (1-6). The presence of chronic inflammation has been well described in gastric cancer, the fourth most common cancer diagnosis and second most common cause of cancer death worldwide (4, 7-9). Genetic variants of several pathways critical for the inflammatory ...

Gastric cancer (GC) is a common cancer affecting patients around the world. The pathogenesis of gastric cancer has not been understood completely. Genetic mutations and the inflammation induced by Helicobacter pylori (HP) seem to play important roles. The cytokine Interleukin-4 (IL-4) has effects in inflammation, allergies and cancer including GC. The association of IL-4 -590 C>T polymorphism a...

background: chronic inflammation and dys-regulation of the immune system mechanisms are now well established as primary triggers of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease. galectin-9 (gal-9) is a member of the galectin family and known as an inducer of cell aggregation, adhesion and apoptosis. gal-9 interaction with its main ligand t-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain protein-3 (tim-3) leads...

Aberrant macrophage infiltration and activation has been implicated in gastric inflammation and carcinogenesis. Overexpression of Wnt5a and downregulation of SFRP5, a Wnt5a antagonist, were both observed in gastric cancers recently. This study attempted to explore whether Wnt5a/SFRP5 axis was involved in macrophage chemotaxis and activation. It was found that both Wnt5a transfection and recombi...

Gastric cancer in humans arises in the setting of oxyntic atrophy (parietal cell loss) and attendant hyperplastic and metaplastic lineage changes within the gastric mucosa. Helicobacter infection in mice and humans leads to spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM). In a number of mouse models, SPEM arises after oxyntic atrophy. In mice treated with the parietal cell toxic protonopho...

Duodenal biopsy specimens from 80 patients with chronic renal failure, who were undergoing haemodialysis, were examined by light microscopy for evidence of inflammation, gastric metaplasia, and Campylobacter pylori infection. Chronic duodenitis was present in 47 (59%) of patients, of whom only seven (9%) showed evidence of active inflammation. Gastric metaplasia was present in 50 (62.5%) of pat...

Vanillin is commonly used as an additive in food, medicine and cosmetics, but its effect has not yet been studied in gastric injury. Therefore the effect of vanillin was studied in experimental gastric ulcer. Gastric secretion and acidity were studied in pylorus ligated rats. Ulcer index, levels of gastric mucus, malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase activity (MPO), expression of nuclear facto...