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World J Dermatol. Aug 2, 2015; 4(3): 120-128
Published online Aug 2, 2015. doi: 10.5314/wjd.v4.i3.120
Helicobacter pylori and inflammatory skin diseases
Ahu Yorulmaz, Seray Cakmak Kulcu
Ahu Yorulmaz, Seray Cakmak Kulcu, Department of Dermatology, Ankara Numune Research and Training Hospital, 06100 Ankara, Turkey
Author contributions: All the authors fully contributed to preparation of this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ahu Yorulmaz, MD, Department of Dermatology, Ankara Numune Research and Training Hospital, Samanpazari, Altindag, 06100 Ankara, Turkey. ahuyor@gmail.com
Telephone: +90-312-5084000 Fax: +90-312-3114340
Received: April 3, 2015
Peer-review started: April 3, 2015
First decision: May 13, 2015
Revised: May 21, 2015
Accepted: June 30, 2015
Article in press: July 2, 2015
Published online: August 2, 2015
Processing time: 121 Days and 19.2 Hours
Abstract

Throughout the history of mankind, infections have been the major cause of diseases. Over the last decades, not only the incidence of emerging infectious diseases have increased, but also tremendous strides have been made in understanding the biology of several pathogenic microorganisms. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a spiral-shaped, gram-negative bacterium, which infects over the half of the world’s population. H. pylori has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of gastrointestinal disorders. However, new researches have demonstrated that H. pylori is also involved in the pathogenesis of various extragastric diseases. The difference in the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection may be explained, at least in part, by host response to the infection and H. pylori virulence factors. It is obvious that as developments in the research on H. pylori spring up, an understanding of the pathophysiology of H. pylori infection will continue to be identified. Here in this review, we summarize the current knowledge about H. pylori and its association with inflammatory skin diseases.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Etiopathogenesis; Skin diseases; Inflammatory

Core tip:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a worldwide bacterium found almost entirely in humans. Although the majority of infected individuals remain asymptomatic, H. pylori has been implicated in the etiology of several gastric and extragastric disorders. H. pylori is generally acquired during childhood and persists lifelong due to the failure of the immune response to eradicate the bacterium. H. pylori has mechanisms to evade the immune response and to establish local and low-grade systemic inflammation. A number of studies have revealed that Helicobacter pylori-induced chronic low-grade inflammation may contribute to the pathogenesis of several disorders, including inflammatory skin diseases.