1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Helicobacter pylori and its association with gastric cancer
| Project/Area Number |
08457158
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Gastroenterology
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| Research Institution | HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
ASAKA Masahiro Hokkaido University, School of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (10113507)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KATO Mototsugu Hokkaido University, Medical Hospital, Instructor, 医学部附属病院, 助手 (60271673)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1997
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| Keywords | H.pylori / Intestinal metaplasia / gastritis / gastric cancer / Cag A gene |
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| Research Abstract |
Several lines of evidence support an association between H.pylori infection and gastric cancer. The natural history of H.pylori associated gastritis is inexorable progression involving more and more of the stomach, ultimately leading to gastric atrophy. In general, this process is slow requiring between 20 and 40 years to complete. Atrophic gastritis is widely considered to be a precursor lesion of the intestinal type of gastric cancer. Moreover, areas with a high prevalence of H.pylori infection also have a high prevalence of gastric cancer. The strong evidence comes from three prospective studies which have shown the risk of gastric cancer to be increased by about fourfold in H.pylori positive persons. After exhaustively reviewing the published literature, the Working Group Meeting of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) held in Lyon in 1994, in affiliation with the WHO,concluded that there was sufficient evidence from human studies to establish the carcinogenicity
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of infection with H.pylori and that H.pylori infection is carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).
It appears unlikely that H.pylori alone is responsible for gastric cancer. Rather, it may provide a suitable environment, including chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia for neoplastic change. The recognition that there is an association between H.pylori infection and gastric cancer has led to a major shift in emphasis when considering the etiology of the disease. Research into H.pylori has focused attention on the importance of chronic inflammation and impaired host defense mechanisms as factors in the development of gastric cancer. H.pylori infection leads to changes in many factors which are important to the pathogenesis of gastric cancer, including the vitamin C content of gastric juice, reactive oxygen metabolites and epithelial cell proliferation. Eradication of the organism can reverse these changes. Therefore, eradication of H.pylori in infected persons might be a route to preventing gastric cancer, although many questions still remain as to the effectiveness of this strategy. Less
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