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World J Methodol. Dec 26, 2015; 5(4): 203-211
Published online Dec 26, 2015. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v5.i4.203
Helicobacter pylori and allergy: Update of research
Ilva Daugule, Jelizaveta Zavoronkova, Daiga Santare
Ilva Daugule, Jelizaveta Zavoronkova, Daiga Santare, Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, LV1586 Riga, Latvia
Author contributions: Daugule I conceived and designed the review, made data analysis and interpretation and wrote the paper; Zavoronkova J made data acquisition and classification; Santare D drafted the article, and made critical revisions.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
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: Ilva Daugule, MD PhD, Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, Raina bulvaris 19, LV1586 Riga, Latvia. ilva_daugule@hotmail.com
Telephone: +371-26-320374 Fax: +371-67-034369
Received: May 11, 2015
Peer-review started: May 12, 2015
First decision: June 18, 2015
Revised: September 18, 2015
Accepted: October 16, 2015
Article in press: October 19, 2015
Published online: December 26, 2015
Abstract

Recently a lot of literature has been published about the possible preventive action of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) against allergy. The present review summarizes research data about the association between H. pylori and allergic diseases, as well as discusses possible hypotheses about the preventive action of H. pylori against atopy. There is evidence from observational studies to support a weak inverse association between prevalence of H. pylori infection and allergy. However, confounders like some unidentified socioeconomic factors, antibiotic use and others could bias the association. Although data from cohort studies point to a possible association of H. pylori with some of the allergic diseases, no definite proof for causal relationship has been clearly demonstrated yet. A biological mechanism proposed to explain the preventive action of H. pylori to allergy is reduced exposure to a major stimulus for the generation of Treg cells in individuals without H. pylori infection. In addition, H. pylori could be an indicator for changes in gut microbiome, reflecting the complex interaction between microbes and immune system.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Allergy, Atopy

Core tip: Review summarizes research data about the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and allergic diseases. Results from observational studies support a weak inverse association between prevalence of H. pylori and allergy. However, different confounders like unidentified socioeconomic factors, antibiotic use and others could bias the observed association. Further, no definite proof for causal relationship has been clearly demonstrated yet, although data from cohort studies point to a possible association of H. pylori with some of the allergic diseases. Finally, microbiological studies show that H. pylori could be an indicator for changes in gut microbiome during recent decades, reflecting the complex interaction between microbes and immune system.