Molecular Pathological Epidemiology in Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Risk of Chronic Atrophic Gastritis

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infects more than 50% of the global population and has been identified as the most important risk factor (cause) of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), the main precursor lesion of gastric cancer (GC). Regular endoscopic examination and worry of development of GC bring these CAG patients serious physical, psychological and economic burden. However, most of the H. pylori-infected patients will not progress to the development of CAG, not to speak of GC, through their lives. Therefore, if we can classify all the H. pylori-infected patients according to the risk of CAG, most of them would be relieved from their burden. Molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE) is a new interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study field, which has emerged as an integrated approach of molecular pathology and epidemiology, and investigates the relationships between molecular characteristics or molecular changes, exogenous and endogenous exposure factors, and initiation, evolution, progression, and response to treatment of diseases. According to the principle and methods, MPE may be a promising approach to achieve our purpose. Moreover, the MPE can provide some very important insights on the molecular mechanisms, personalized prevention and treatment for the study field of H. pylori infection and CAG.