Biofilm andHelicobacter pylori: From environment to human host

Human host defense peptide LL-37 prevents bacterial biofilm formation.

The ability to form biofilms is a critical factor in chronic infections by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has made this bacterium a model organism with respect to biofilm formation. This study describes a new, previously unrecognized role for the human cationic host defense peptide LL-37. In addition to its key role in modulating the innate immune response and weak antimicrobial activity, LL-37 pot...

Helicobacter pylori and Host Response

Biofilm mediated decontamination of pollutants from the environment

In this review, we highlight beneficial use of microbial biofilms in remediation of environmental pollutants by bioremediation. Bioremediation is an environment friendly, cost effective, sustainable technology that utilizes microbes to decontaminate and degrade a wide variety of pollutants into less harmful products. Relative to free-floating planktonic cells, microbes existing in biofilm mode ...

Gastric cancer and Helicobacter pylori: the bug, the host or the environment?

Worldwide, gastric cancer is still a leading cause of cancer deaths. The association of Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer is well established, and the bacterium was declared a class one carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the World Health Organisation in 1994. H pylori infection is responsible for 5.5% of all global cancers, 75% of non-cardia gastric cancer an...

Remodeling the host environment: modulation of the gastric epithelium by the Helicobacter pylori vacuolating toxin (VacA)

Virulence mechanisms underlying Helicobacter pylori persistence and disease remain poorly understood, in part, because the factors underlying disease risk are multifactorial and complex. Among the bacterial factors that contribute to the cumulative pathophysiology associated with H. pylori infections, the vacuolating cytotoxin (VacA) is one of the most important. Analogous to a number of H. pyl...