MicrobeWorld

Stanley Falkow, Professor Microbiology and Immunology, Geographic Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Stanford University School of Medicine, presents the second part of a lecture on host-pathogen interaction. This one focuses on H. pylori (the ulcer bacterium) and the story behind its discovery by Australian pathologist Robin Warren and Australian physician Barry Marshall which won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2005.

"Helicobacter pylori lives in the human stomach. It causes gastritis, ulcer disease and even gastric cancer. Some H. pylori can inject a protein, CagA, into gastric epithelial cells. CagA interacts with the tight junctions that bind cells together and with signaling molecules affecting motility and proliferation. CagA is associated with ulcer disease and cancer but we don't understand how it works to favor malignancy. Not long ago in history most humans carried H. pylori ; the incidence of carriage and gastric cancer is dropping but there is evidence that this microbe also had a protective effect on human health." Written by video_collector on SciVee.tv