Helicobacter pylori in Gastric Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) remains the most frequent cause of chronic gastritis, which can subsequently progress to gastric and duodenal peptic ulcer disease (PUD), gastric cancer, and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. The diverse effect of Hp infection is the consequence of interplay between bacterial, host, and environmental factors, resulting in distinct gastritis phenotypes that determine possible progression to different gastroduodenal pathologies.

This interplay includes the ethnic composition of hosts, such as receptors engaged in the recognition of Hp compounds, pro-inflammatory cytokine polymorphisms, and other factors playing an important role in the Hp colonization of incoming strains; differences in transmission ecology that influence the composition of Hp populations; genetic diversity within Hp strains such as the nucleotide sequence diversity of the individual genes associated with high rates of mutation; and the high levels of recombination across species. All these conditions are also influenced by environmental factors including diet or NSAID administration. Besides gastric, several other extra-gastric disorders are also associated with Hp infection, e.g., unexplained iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin B12 deficiency, cardiovascular diseases, ischemic heart disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hepatobiliary diseases, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, there is the need for more comprehensive studies of the role of H. pylori and host cell interactions, particularly in the light of the rising resistance of this bacterium to commonly used antibiotics.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

• H. pylori and gastric diseases;
• H. pylori cell biology, e.g., strain types, virulence factor presence, and adaptation mechanisms;
• H. pylori strain types and host interactions;
• H. pylori-induced physiological process regulation and dysregulation, e.g., systemic, extra- and intra-cellular signalling change, gene expression changes (genetic and epigenetic), etc.;
• H. pylori pathology, e.g., inflammation, fibrosis, cancer, immunosuppression, etc.;
• Therapeutic approaches like targeted treatment of pylori-related pathophysiological tissue-related changes, e.g., natural and chemical compounds impairing virulence factor-associated pathogenicity.

The Special Issue requests both original research and reviews addressing the molecular research underlying novel insights into Helicobacter pylori infections.

Dr. Gracjana Krzysiek-Ma̧czka
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• H. pylori
• gastritis
• Duodenal Peptic Ulcer Disease (PUD)
• Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) lymphoma
• infection
• inflammation