Stomach bacterium damages human DNA; Risk factor for gastric cancer
Monday, September 5, 2011 - 17:30
in Health & Medicine
The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of gastric cancer, the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. Molecular biologists in Switzerland have now identified a mechanism of H. pylori that damages the DNA of cells in the gastric mucosa and sets them up for malignant transformation.