Helicobacter pylori and inflammatory skin diseases

Abstract

Throughout the history of mankind, infections have been the major cause of diseases. Over the last decades, not only the incidence of emerging infectious diseases have increased, but also tremendous strides have been made in understanding the biology of several pathogenic microorganisms. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a spiral-shaped, gram-negative bacterium, which infects over the half of the world’s population. H. pylori has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of gastrointestinal disorders. However, new researches have demonstrated that H. pylori is also involved in the pathogenesis of various extragastric diseases. The difference in the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection may be explained, at least in part, by host response to the infection and H. pylori virulence factors. It is obvious that as developments in the research on H. pylori spring up, an understanding of the pathophysiology of H. pylori infection will continue to be identified. Here in this review, we summarize the current knowledge about H. pylori and its association with inflammatory skin diseases.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Etiopathogenesis; Skin diseases; Inflammatory

Core tip:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a worldwide bacterium found almost entirely in humans. Although the majority of infected individuals remain asymptomatic, H. pylori has been implicated in the etiology of several gastric and extragastric disorders. H. pylori is generally acquired during childhood and persists lifelong due to the failure of the immune response to eradicate the bacterium. H. pylori has mechanisms to evade the immune response and to establish local and low-grade systemic inflammation. A number of studies have revealed that Helicobacter pylori-induced chronic low-grade inflammation may contribute to the pathogenesis of several disorders, including inflammatory skin diseases.