Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 14, 2024; 30(46): 4958-4963
Published online Dec 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i46.4958
Should we pay more attention to the potential link between Helicobacter pylori and esophageal cancer in Asian countries
Jie Liu, Ying-Ling Liu
Jie Liu, Ying-Ling Liu, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China
Author contributions: Liu J contributed to draft of the manuscript; Liu YL contributed to critical revision of the manuscript; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Supported by Research Project of the Chinese Digestive Early Cancer Physicians' Joint Growth Program, No. GTCZ-2021-AH-34-0012; and Lu'an Science and Technology Plan Project, No. 2022lakj040.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying-Ling Liu, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, No. 9 Lujiang Road, Hefei 230001, Anhui Province, China. liuyingling@ustc.edu.cn
Received: July 23, 2024
Revised: October 25, 2024
Accepted: November 1, 2024
Published online: December 14, 2024
Processing time: 120 Days and 15.3 Hours
Abstract

The presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been indicated to have a protective influence on esophageal cancer (EC) in some studies, but its specific impact on the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma remains inconclusive. This manuscript comment addresses the recent study by López-Gómez et al. Despite it was a retrospective observational study without a control group, this study revealed a notably low prevalence of H. pylori infection among EC patients, indicating a potential association between H. pylori and EC in Spain. It is important to note that the relationship between H. pylori and the risk of EC varies geographically. We also conducted a meta-analysis focusing on this association in Asian populations to offer precise clinical insights. However, no significant correlation between H. pylori infection and EC was identified, suggesting that the perceived protective effect of H. pylori against EC may have been overestimated in the Asian population.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Esophageal cancer; Proton pump inhibitors; Asian; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has been implicated in the development of gastric cancer and its eradication is widely accepted as a treatment approach. However, recent research indicates that H. pylori may also play a role in maintaining the balance of gastroesophageal junction cells and could potentially have a protective effect against esophageal cancer (EC). Previous meta-analyses have shown that the relationship between H. pylori and the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma or esophageal adenocarcinoma varies across different regions. This manuscript discusses a recent study by López-Gómez et al. Additionally, an updated meta-analysis focusing on the potential link between H. pylori and EC in Asian populations has been conducted to offer more precise clinical recommendations for countries like China and other Asian nations.