Pathogenic mechanisms of Helicobacter pylori

There is general agreement that motility, urease activity, and association with gastric mucosal cells are important virulence factors of H. pylori. Urease activity is perhaps the best characterized of these factors. Presumably, urease activity creates a "cloud" of ammonia around the bacterium, thus neutralizing the lethal effects of gastric acid. Motility allows the bacterium to penetrate the mucus layer and promotes specific association of the bacteria with epithelial cells, further allowing evasion of gastric acidity. The association between gastrin levels and H. pylori infection is currently the most thoroughly studied feature relating to pathogenesis in vivo. Prolonged hypergastrinemia associated with H. pylori infection may contribute to increased parietal cell mass and chronically increased secretion of gastric acid; however, long-term studies are needed to validate this hypothesis. The identification of mucosal gamma delta T cells and immunologic cross-reactivity between H. pylori and gastric cells implies that the immune response contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of H. pylori. The role of the immune system in modulating H. pylori infection requires further study. Although many putative pathogenic factors have been identified on the basis of in vitro phenomena alone, their significance in vivo is not known. Ultimately, it will be necessary to evaluate the significance of these factors in animal models by using isogenic strains of H. pylori that differ only in a single genotypic characteristic.