Duodenal ulcer promoting gene (dupA): skewing the immune response to Helicobacter pylori and hence disease pathogenesis

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Half the world‘s population is infected by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori (Hp), which survives in the human stomach. This is an important cause of ulcer disease and stomach cancer, though the majority of people who carry the bacteria are healthy. Different Hp strains have different genes, some of which are associated with disease and are called bacterial virulence factors. This project will help establish whether a new Hp virulence factor called dupA might explain why some people develop ulcers, specifically ulcers in the first part of the small bowel (duodenal ulcers). Hp strains with dupA may also protect people against developing cancer. Most previously studied bacterial virulence factors have been found to affect the cells that make up the stomach wall. We think that dupA works on the cells of the immune system instead and so may change how a person‘s body fights the infection to predispose them to develop duodenal ulcers. We plan to collect small tissue samples from the stomach of patients having an endoscopy and study how the immune system responds in uninfected and infected patients.We hope that this research will help us to more fully understand how Hp infection contributes to the development of ulcers.