ABSTRACT

A unifying concept of the relationship between Helicobacter pylori and the immune system has been delineated by M. J. Blaser. In H. pylori infection, heat shock protein homologues stimulate autoimmunity, and when there is continuous polymorph inflammation, this will lead sooner to gastric atrophy, and in some patients to cancer. Fecal transmission was likely in Chile, where the incidence of H. pylori was unexpectedly found to be higher in those who ate uncooked vegetables than those who ate only cooked vegetables. The surface of the organism may assist in passage through the mucus and adherence. Hydrophobic interaction chromatography experiments indicate that the outer layer of H. pylori is hydrophobic. Monoclonal antibodies against H. pylori cross-react with the cells of the human gastric mucosa and also with murine gastric epithelial cells. New Zealand workers reported that the ammonia concentration in H. pylori mucus is fourfold greater than in uninfected mucus, almost certainly due to H. pylori urease.