Events at the Host-Microbial Interface of the Gastrointestinal Tract IV. The pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori persistence

Long-term interactions between Helicobacter pylori and humans significantly increase the risk for peptic ulcer disease and noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma. The vast majority of infected persons remain persistently colonized unless a targeted antibiotic regimen is employed; thus regulation of inflammation by H. pylori is governed by levels of host-bacteria equilibria that are not found during cellular interactions with acute enteric pathogens. It is important to gain insight into mechanisms that regulate immune evasion by H. pylori not only to develop more effective treatments for disease, but also because such knowledge may serve as a paradigm for the role that other chronic infectious agents play in the genesis of pathological lesions that arise from inflammatory foci.