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Review
. 2024 Apr;52(2):289-300.
doi: 10.1007/s15010-023-02115-7. Epub 2023 Nov 2.

Helicobacter pylori and oral-gut microbiome: clinical implications

Affiliations
Review

Helicobacter pylori and oral-gut microbiome: clinical implications

Maged T Elghannam et al. Infection. 2024 Apr.

Abstract

More than half of the world's population are colonized with H. pylori; however, the prevalence varies geographically with the highest incidence in Africa. H. pylori is probably a commensal organism that has been associated with the development of gastritis, ulcers, and gastric cancer. H. pylori alone is most probably not enough for the development of gastric carcinoma, but evidence for its association with the disease is high and has, therefore, been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Class 1 carcinogen. Bacteroidetes and Fusobacteria positively coexisted during H. pylori infection along the oral-gut axis. The eradication therapy required to treat H. pylori infection can also have detrimental consequences for the gut microbiota, leading to a decreased alpha diversity. Therefore, therapy regimens integrated with probiotics may abolish the negative effects of antibiotic therapy on the gut microbiota. These eradication therapies combined with probiotics have also higher rates of eradication, when compared to standard treatments, and are associated with reduced side effects, improving the patient's compliance. The eradication therapy not only affects gut microbiome but also affects the oral microbiome with robust predominance of harmful bacteria. However, there have been reports of a protective role of H. pylori in Barrett's esophagus, esophageal adenocarcinoma, eosinophilic esophagitis, IBD, asthma, and even multiple sclerosis. Therefore, eradication therapy should be carefully considered, and test to treat policy should be tailored to specific communities especially in highly endemic areas. Supplementation of probiotics, prebiotics, herbals, and microbial metabolites to reduce the negative effects of eradication therapy should be considered. After failure of many eradication attempts, the benefits of H. pylori eradication should be carefully balanced against the risk of adverse effects especially in the elderly, persons with frailty, and intolerance to antibiotics.

Keywords: H. pylori infection; Clinical implications; Gastric carcinoma; Oral and gut microbiota; Peptic ulcer disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

All the authors contribute equally like the corresponding author in creating the idea of the article, gathering the information, drafting and writing, reviewing and editing the manuscript in the final shape. They are in agreement with the content of the manuscript. There is no conflict of interest and no financial support. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. No ethical committee approval is needed for this article. All datasets used can be accessed through the internet and no special requests are needed.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Gastric micro ecological imbalance and gastric diseases. Despite the differences among individuals, there are five dominant bacterial phyla in the healthy stomach, and their common dominant bacterial genera are summarized (green). The gastric microbiota is dynamically balanced and affected by many factors, such as Helicobacter pylori infection, probiotics, gut microbiota, drugs, diet, and age. Although the causal relationship between them is unclear, gastric micro ecological imbalances are associated with various gastric diseases (red), and some microorganism-related disorders are listed. With permission from Zhang L et al. published in Front. Microbiol 2023 “Gastric microbiota dysbiosis and Helicobacter pylori infection”
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Main mechanisms mediating the relationship between H. pylori and gastric microbiota. Created with BioRender.com
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Association of Helicobacter pylori abundance with the different stages of gastric conditions. The presence of H. pylori was dominant in the superficial gastritis condition; thus, this domination reduced microbial diversity. In atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia, the relative abundance of H. pylori began to decrease with the introduction of other bacteria, including the incremental of Prevotella sp. and Neisseria sp. In the gastric cancer condition, H. pylori started to deteriorate with a significantly increased amount other bacteria, including oral cavity microbiota, intestinal microbiota, and lactic acid bacteria. Published in Gut Pathogens (2022) 14:19 with permission

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