pylori. These results suggest that H. pylori infection alone may not always be sufficient to induce gastric cancer and underlines the importance

of other factors including diet and environment. Interestingly, this epigenetic silencing of TFF1 could be suppressed by the hormone gastrin [6]. As gastrin is an important regulator of gastric acid secretion and cell growth, H. pylori regulation of this hormone has been implicated in pathogenesis. H. pylori-infected mice have increased gastrin mRNA levels, and studies with AGS cells showed that infection induces gastrin through MAP kinases, but not NF-κB. Direct contact of live H. pylori with human cells was sufficient to induce gastrin gene expression [7]. Thus, modulation of the production of gastrin may have potential as an epigenetic modifier. Expression of TFF2, another member of the trefoil factor family in the stomach, has recently click here been shown to also suppress tumor development, and the expression is lost during the progression of human intestinal type gastric cancer. Indeed, experimental H. pylori infection in mice reduced antral expression of TFF2 by increased promoter methylation. In human tissue samples, DNA methylation at the TFF2 promoter

increased throughout gastric tumor progression [8]. The TSGs p53 and p27 can also be negatively regulated by H. pylori [9,10]. Using the gerbil model and infection in vitro showed that H. pylori activates AKT1 kinase which leads to phosphorylation and activation selleck of HDM2 resulting in the degradation of p53 in gastric epithelial cells [9]. Gene polymorphisms mafosfamide involved in the inflammatory response also increase

the risk of developing gastric cancer [11]. For example, polymorphisms in the IL-1β and endogenous IL-1 receptor (IL-1R) antagonist genes are known examples. A novel study has established for the first time the involvement of IL-1RI and Rho kinase in H. pylori-mediated disruption of tight junctional proteins in gastric epithelial cells in vitro [12]. H. pylori disrupted claudin-4 in a Rho kinase-dependent manner, and IL-1β mediated a similar effect. Further experiments revealed that inhibition of IL-1R activation prevented H. pylori-induced Rho kinase activation and claudin-4 disruption. In a study aimed at elucidation of the differential susceptibility to H. pylori that is found both across and within populations, it was shown that 5–6-week-old infected mice developed gastritis, gastric atrophy, epithelial metaplasia, and hyperplasia, while 7-day-old neonatal mice were protected from preneoplastic lesions [13]. This occurred in the neonatal mice because of the development of a biased ratio of T-regulatory to effector cells promoted by prolonged exposure to a low dose of antigen, suggesting that the age at which acquisition of infection occurs may play a role in mediating disease.