A new study helps explain how infection with the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori, the strongest known risk factor for gastric (stomach) cancer, may lead to cancer. Researchers have found that H. pylori infection triggers breaks in both strands of the DNA double helix in the nucleus of gastricepithelial cells. These DNA double-strand breaks activate the cells’ machinery for repairing DNA damage, but prolonged H. pylori infection overloads this machinery, which could lead to mutations involved in gastric cancer |
