Fabbri N, Greco S, Pesce A, Virgilio F, Romeo D, Feo CV. Role of Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of cholelithiasis. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(8): 102024 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i8.102024]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Nicolò Fabbri, MD, Unit of General Surgery, Local Health Agency of Ferrara, 2 Via Valle Oppio, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. n.fabbri@ausl.fe.it
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Letter to the Editor
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2025; 31(8): 102024 Published online Feb 28, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i8.102024
Role of Helicobacter pylori infection and the risk of cholelithiasis
Nicolò Fabbri, Salvatore Greco, Antonio Pesce, Francesco Virgilio, Danila Romeo, Carlo V Feo
Nicolò Fabbri, Antonio Pesce, Carlo V Feo, Unit of General Surgery, Local Health Agency of Ferrara, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Salvatore Greco, Unit of Internal Medicine, Local Health Agency of Ferrara, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Antonio Pesce, Carlo V Feo, Department of Morphology, Surgery, and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Francesco Virgilio, Unit of Hepato-Biliary Surgery, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan 20132, Lombardy, Italy
Danila Romeo, Local Health Agency of Ferrara, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Co-first authors: Nicolò Fabbri and Salvatore Greco.
Co-corresponding authors: Nicolò Fabbri and Danila Romeo.
Author contributions: Fabbri N, Greco S, Pesce A, Virgilio F, Romeo D, and Feo CV contributed to this work; Fabbri N and Romeo D equally contributed as co-corresponding authors; Fabbri N and Greco S wrote and edited the manuscript, contributing equally as co-first authors; Feo CV revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
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: Nicolò Fabbri, MD, Unit of General Surgery, Local Health Agency of Ferrara, 2 Via Valle Oppio, Ferrara 44100, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. n.fabbri@ausl.fe.it
Received: October 5, 2024 Revised: October 29, 2024 Accepted: December 18, 2024 Published online: February 28, 2025 Processing time: 109 Days and 6.4 Hours
Abstract
This article aims to deepen the understanding of the role of Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infection in the development of cholelithiasis, initiated by the article by Yao et al, who investigated the potential link between H. pylori infection and the development of cholelithiasis through a multicenter retrospective study on an Asian population of over 70000 participants. They also performed a comprehensive analysis of previously published studies on H. pylori and cholelithiasis, finding a positive association therein [odds ratio (OR) = 1.103, P = 0.049]. Patients positive for H. pylori also had lower levels of total and direct bilirubin, but higher levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol compared to uninfected patients (P < 0.05). Cohort studies have confirmed that H. pylori is a risk factor for cholelithiasis (P < 0.0001), and aggregate analyses of case-control and cross-sectional studies have shown a positive association between H. pylori and cholelithiasis in Asia (OR = 1.599, P = 0.034), but not in Europe (OR = 1.277, P = 0.246). Moreover, H. pylori appears to be related to a higher ratio of choledocholithiasis/cholecystolithiasis (OR = 3.321, P = 0.033). The authors conclude that H. pylori infection is positively correlated with cholelithiasis, particularly with the choledocholithiasis phenotype, especially in Asia, and it is potentially related to bilirubin and cholesterol metabolism.
Core Tip: This article discusses the role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in cholelithiasis and bilirubin metabolism, highlighting a study by Yao et al that suggests an association between H. pylori infection and gallstones. While the study provides evidence for this link, it notes that the relationship may vary across populations due to factors like strain differences and geographic prevalence. The article also explores the potential role of proton pump inhibitors in increasing cholelithiasis risk, and emphasizes the need for further research into the gut microbiota’s involvement in gallstone pathogenesis.
