Modification of the Gastric Mucosal Microbiota by a Strain-Specific Helicobacter pylori Oncoprotein and Carcinogenic Histologic Phenotype

Microbial communities are essential for the maintenance of human health, and when these communities are altered, hosts can become susceptible to inflammation and disease. Dysbiosis contributes to gastrointestinal cancers, and specific bacterial species are associated with this phenotype. This study uses a robust and reproducible animal model to demonstrate that H. pylori infection induces gastric dysbiosis in a cagA -dependent manner and further that dysbiosis and altered microbial community structure parallel the severity of H. pylori -induced gastric injury. Ultimately, such models of H. pylori infection and cancer that can effectively evaluate multiple determinants simultaneously may yield effective strategies for manipulating the gastric microbiota to prevent the development of gastric cancer.