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Review
. 2022 Feb 3;23(3):1759.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23031759.

Epigenetics and Helicobacter pylori

Rosanna Capparelli  1 , Domenico Iannelli  1
Affiliations
Review

Epigenetics and Helicobacter pylori

Rosanna Capparelli et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Epigenetics regulates gene expression, cell type development during differentiation, and the cell response to environmental stimuli. To survive, bacteria need to evade the host immune response. Bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori (Hp), reach this target epigenetically, altering the chromatin of the host cells, in addition to several more approaches, such as DNA mutation and recombination. This review shows that Hp prevalently silences the genes of the human gastric mucosa by DNA methylation. Epigenetics includes different mechanisms. However, DNA methylation persists after DNA replication and therefore is frequently associated with the inheritance of repressed genes. Chromatin modification can be transmitted to daughter cells leading to heritable changes in gene expression. Aberrant epigenetic alteration of the gastric mucosa DNA remains the principal cause of gastric cancer. Numerous methylated genes have been found in cancer as well as in precancerous lesions of Hp-infected patients. These methylated genes inactivate tumor-suppressor genes. It is time for us to complain about our genetic and epigenetic makeups for our diseases.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Helicobacter pylori and Epstein-Barr virus co-infection; cancer; epigenetics.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Inheritance of epigenetic information. Methyl groups of CG paired with methylated CG are conserved after DNA replication.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Methylation inhibits transposon mobility. Red circles: methylated transposon.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Epigenetic information at a molecular level. DNA methylation (red circles) results in close-packed nucleosomes, inhibiting transcription factors. DNA acetylation (green circles) results in loose-packed nucleosomes, favoring transcription factors.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Epigenetic marks can silence mutations. (A) Normal adult hemoglobin (Hb) gene, encoding normal Hb protein. (B) Mutated adult hemoglobin (MHb) gene, encoding the mutated Hb protein with the glutamic acid at position β6 replaced by valine. (C) Epigenetic marks (red squares) silence mutated adult MHb gene, inhibiting gene expression while fetal Hb persists.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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