Pathogen Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India.
Med Princ Pract. 2011;20(6):497-503. doi: 10.1159/000329786. Epub 2011 Oct 4.
Helicobacter pylori is a major human pathogen and its transmission and epidemiology have been extensively studied; it has been found that H. pylori's prevalence and infection outcome is characterized by marked differences between the developing and the developed worlds. Recent data on genomic analyses and comparative core genome haplotyping have revealed that H. pylori has coevolved with its human host. While several studies advocate the protective effects of H. pylori colonization, it is prudent to systematically unleash the role of the strong virulence apparatus present within most H. pylori strains and to determine how to disarm them (or protect the host from the effects) if the intent is to allow it to remain a friendly organism or to use it as a vaccine delivery tool. While genotyping and phenotyping based on a few genetic markers have not provided much insight into such issues, use of replicate/chronological genomics (of virulent versus innocuous strains) coupled with functional screens in animal models is expected to be able to explain the acquisition and evolution of virulence factors of H. pylori and their discreet associations with serious clinical outcomes such as gastric cancer.
幽门螺杆菌是一种主要的人类病原体，其传播和流行病学已得到广泛研究；研究发现，幽门螺杆菌的流行和感染结果在发展中国家和发达国家之间存在显著差异。最近关于基因组分析和比较核心基因组单倍型的研究数据表明，幽门螺杆菌与人类宿主共同进化。虽然有几项研究主张幽门螺杆菌定植具有保护作用，但明智的做法是系统地揭示大多数幽门螺杆菌菌株中存在的强大毒力装置的作用，并确定如何解除它们的武装（或保护宿主免受其影响），如果意图是让它保持为一种友好的生物体，或者将其用作疫苗输送工具。虽然基于少数遗传标记的基因分型和表型分析并没有为这些问题提供太多的见解，但使用复制/时间生物学（有毒菌株与无害菌株），并结合动物模型中的功能筛选，有望能够解释幽门螺杆菌毒力因子的获得和进化，以及它们与严重临床结果（如胃癌）的明确关联。
