MUCOSAL INFLAMMATION AND DISEASE IN HELICOBACTER-PYLORI INFECTION

The discovery of Helicobacter pylori as an important gastric pathogen and as one of the most common bacterial infections, now more than a de cade ago, completely changed our concepts of both gastroduodenal disea se and the immunobiology of the stomach. At this moment, H. pylori is recognized as the cause of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, an d as an important causal factor in the chain of events leading to gast ric carcinoma. Before H. pylori can lead to gastritis and a chronic im mune response the bacterium has to evade and subsequently to interact with the mucosal defence mechanisms. After colonization of the gastric muscosa by H. pylori the persistent presence and survival of the bact erium leads to a chronic local and systemic immune response. Recent de velopments and insights into the gastric mucosal inflammation caused b y H. pylori and its pathogenic mechanisms are the subject of this revi ew.