Link between stomach bug and cancer identified

Experts in the US have discovered that a common type of stomach bug may be a key factor in the development of breast and gastric cancer.

A team at the University of Illinois say that there is a direct link between helicobacter pylori (H pylori) and breast cancer, mainly due to the bug's ability to survive in the stomach without being killed by the acids found there.

Principal investigator Steven Blanke, a University of Illinois professor in the department of microbiology and Institute for Genomic Biology, said that finding out how to eliminate the presence of H pylori is a major and urgent challenge for healthcare experts.

He told cancer cover holders that the bug can not only evade the body's defences, but can also modify bacteria to become more threatening to the immune system.

"These studies potentially provide a direct molecular link between H pylori infection and the activation of a factor known to be involved in the survival of cancerous cells," he said.

Dr Blanke added that H pylori is responsible for activating a substance known as PARP-1 during infection of human gastric cells and it is this which leads to stomach and breast cancer, which affect a total of well over 50,000 people in the UK each year.

The expert told those with cancer insurance that the next step will be to identify the bacterial factor which activates PARP-1, as this could be targeted by anti-cancer drugs and help to stop the development or progression of the disease.

"This is the first example of a bacterium that can activate PARP-1 directly, perhaps in this case as a mechanism for H pylori to promote inflammation and/or the death of host cells during long-term infection," the expert said.

Posted by James McCann

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