Current management of gastric inflammation involves the eradication of Helicobacter pylori. However, the effectiveness of commonly used antibiotics against H. pylori infection has decreased due to antibiotic resistance. Phenotypic-based diagnostics are laborious and finding the cause of resistance can be difficult. Therefore, early detection and understanding of the underlying mechanism of this resistance are necessary. This study evaluated the mutations in the genes related to the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) of the clinical isolates from Bangladeshi subjects. Whole-genome sequencing was performed on 56 isolates and the genes (such as pbp1a, rdxA, ribF, fur, gyrA, gyrB, 23S rRNA, and infB) were extracted. The reads were assembled, and the SNPs were extracted by the latest pipeline for antibiotic mutation analysis, ARIBA. The mutations and the association with the antibiotic phenotypes were evaluated using Fisher’s exact test. In this study, the clarithromycin resistance rate was high, 39.3% (22/56), with the median MIC 24 mg/L ranging from 2 to 128 mg/L. The mutation of A2147G was significantly associated with resistance (p = 0.000018) but not in locus A2146G (p = 0.056). Levofloxacin also posed a high resistance. We observed that the mutation of D91N (but not D91Y) (p = 0.002) and N87K (p = 0.002) of gyrA was associated with levofloxacin resistance. Mutations in locus A343V (p = 0.041) of gyrB also showed a significant association. Meanwhile, in the pbp1a gene, several mutations might explain the resistance; they were G594fs (p = 0.036), K306R (p = 0.036), N562Y (p = 0.0006), and V45I (p = 0.018). The prevalence of metronidazole was exceptionally high (96.4%), and numerous mutations occurred in rdxA genes, including the truncation of genes. These results imply that the mutation in genes encoding the target protein of antibiotics remains the critical resistance mechanism in H. pylori.

Although millions of people have been infected by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), only a small proportion of infected individuals will develop adverse outcomes, ranging from chronic gastritis to gastric cancer. Advanced development of the disease has been well-linked with chronic inflammation, which is significantly impacted by the adaptive and humoral immunity response. From the perspective of cellular immunity, this review aims to clarify the intricate axis between IL-17, IL-21, and IL-23 in H. pylori-related diseases and the pathogenesis of inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases. CD4+ helper T (Th)-17 cells, with the hallmark pleiotropic cytokine IL-17, can affect antimicrobial activity and the pathogenic immune response in the gut environment. These circumstances cannot be separated, as the existence of affiliated cytokines, including IL-21 and IL-23, help maintain Th17 and accommodate humoral immune cells. Comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interaction between molecular host responses in H. pylori-related diseases and the inflammation process may facilitate further development of immune-based therapy.

Background We evaluated the microbiota in the stomach of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) patients. We compared Erosive Reflux Disease (ERD) to gastritis and Non-erosive Reflux Disease (NERD) subjects by 16S rRNA approach on gastric biopsy specimens. A total of 197 subjects were included consisting of gastritis (68; 34.52%), ERD (55; 27.92%), and NERD (74; 37.56%). After quality filtering, 187 samples were included for OTU analysis using Qiime2. Results We observed a significant difference in alpha diversity (Shannon and Simpson indexes were P = 0.0016 and P = 0.017, respectively). A significant decrease in alpha diversity index was observed in NERD with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-positive subjects than in gastritis (Simpson index P = 0.022; Shannon index P = 0.029), indicating a significant influence of H. pylori on the diversity in the stomach despite the diseases. In H. pylori-negative samples, alpha diversity measurement by the abundance coverage estimates (ACE) and Fisher Test revealed that ERD had significantly lower richness than gastritis and NERD groups (P = 0.00012 and P = 0.00043, respectively). Anaerobacillus sp. could only be found in ERD patients by LEFse analysis. Conclusions The presence of ERD could alter microbiome diversity. A negative correlation between H. pylori and ERD is shown in this microbiome study but not in NERD.