Gastric cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Diet, obesity, smoking and chronic infections, especially with Helicobacter pylori, contribute to stomach cancer development. H. pylori possesses a variety of virulence factors including encoded factors from the cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island (cagPAI) or vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA). Most of the cagPAI-encoded produc...

Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacterium that colonizes more than 50% of the world's population, which leads to a tremendous medical burden. H. pylori infection is associated with such varied diseases as gastritis, peptic ulcers, and two forms of gastric cancer: gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. This association represents a novel paradigm for cancer de...

BACKGROUND The development of clinically significant disease in South Africa is associated with the vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) s1 genotype but not with the presence of the cytotoxin associated gene cagA. cagA occurs in >95% of South African isolates and is a variable marker for the entire cag pathogenicity island (PAI). AIM To characterise the cagPAI in South African isolates and to in...

Helicobacter pylori infects 50% of the population and 10-20% of the infected individuals develop various gastroduodenal illness, which include gastritis, duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, distal gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. The bacterium was classified as type I carcinogen by WHO in 1994. Most of the pathogenic potentials of H. pylori have been att...

introduction and aims: omeprazole is a gastric parietal cells proton pump inhibitor that is also active against h. pylori in vitro. this study was designed to examine the neutralization of h. pylori cytotoxicity on vero cells by omeprazole micronized in strains isolated from gastritis, ulcer, cancer and barrett's ulcer, to determine whether omeprazole can inhibit vacuolation of the vero cells i...

Some bacterial pathogens modulate signaling pathways of eukaryotic cells in order to subvert the host response for their own benefit, leading to successful colonization and invasion. Pathogenic bacteria produce multiple compounds that generate favorable conditions to their survival and growth during infection in eukaryotic hosts. Many bacterial toxins can alter the cell cycle progression of hos...

Helicobacter pylori is one of the commonest bacterial pathogens in human. The organism is associated with development of peptic ulcer diseases, lymphoproliferative disorders and gastric cancer. Residence in a developing country, poor socio-economic conditions and genetic predisposition are regarded as risk factors. Prevalence of infection is higher in developing countries and re-infection is hi...