Gastrointestinal microbiome in the context of Helicobacter pylori infection in stomach and gastroduodenal diseases

Infectious origins of a set of severe gastroduodenal diseases viz. gastritis, duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma were appreciated only after the discovery of H. pylori in 1983. In the past two decades, however, findings from many laboratories suggest that apart from H. pylori, several of the trillions of microbes that populate the human gastrointestinal tract and form microbiomes of the respective niches (like oral microbiome, esophageal microbiome, gastric microbiome and intestinal microbiome) may also participate in maintaining the healthy state of stomach and duodenum. Dysbiosis leading to alteration in the relative abundance of the key gastrointestinal microbes is associated with severe gastric diseases. For instance, an increased abundance of genera like Leptotrichia, Prevotella and Veillonella in gastric microbiome and a decreased abundance of Bifidobacterium in intestinal microbiome are associated with gastric cancer. H. pylori infection, apart from causing direct harm to the gastric epithelium by its virulence proteins like vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) and cytotoxin associated gene A (CagA), is also capable of triggering dysbiosis in stomach and intestinal microbiomes. In this chapter, we have discussed the possible roles of bacteria, viruses, fungi, archaea, protozoa and helminths in human gastrointestinal tracts in the context of H. pylori infection in stomach and various gastroduodenal diseases.