Helicobacter pylori vacuolating cytotoxin and gastric cancer risk: reconsidered

Although Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) cause gastric cancer, cancer develops in a fraction of H. pylori infected patients. Based on the notion that polymorphisms in the H. pylori vacuolating cytotoxin gene might be a determinant of clinical outcome, Abdi et al. used meta-analysis to examine the association between vacA gene subtypes and the risk of developing atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia or gastric cancer (1).