Helicobacter pyloriin the 21st Century

Abstract

Unlike books that have been written before about Helicobacter pylori, this volume, 30 years after Warren’s original description of a case at Royal Perth Hospital, presents a mature understanding of how the bacterium colonizes its host and causes disease. As such, it will stay on my laboratory shelf for years to come, perhaps with a few minor details added as new signalling pathways are discovered. Thirty years after Robin Warren first saw spiral bacteria on human gastric biopsies, Sutton and Mitchell’s new book is a timely reminder that many clinical and basic aspects of H.pylori science are still controversial and worthy of further research. While much of our knowledge of the bacterium is a logical extrapolation of findings in other infectious diseases, the unique ability of Helicobacterto colonize the human gastric mucosa for many decades provides important insights into host–pathogen interactions, mucosal immunity and the whole immune system. The editors themselves have been entrenched in Helicobactermicrobiology for many years and are very well respected in their fields. Associate Professor Phil Sutton, an immunologist, has spent the past several years developing new animal models of Helicobacterinfection whereby the fine details of the mucosal immune response can be isolated and teased out with the goal of designing vaccines against the organism. Similarly, Professor Hazel Mitchell is now Professor of Microbiology at the University of New South Wales, with many publications on all aspects of Helicobactersince she was one of the first in the world to complete a PhD on the biology and immunology of this intriguing organism. With such eminent editors, it is no surprise that their co-authors include the leading lights in specific aspects of Helicobacterscience. These specialists have each spent many years supervising teams of scientists and no doubt any one of them could easily produce an authoritative book on their special area of interest if they had the time. However, thanks to years of experience, every one of them has produced a concise chapter that not only emphasizes the proven facts but also mentions aspects of the disease that are unusual, controversial or defy explanation.