Coevolution between humans, bacteria reduces gastric cancer risk, research suggests
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 16:31
in Health & Medicine
Researchers studied two Colombian villages and discovered that the risk of gastric cancer (caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria) depends on both the ancestry of the person and the ancestry of the microbe they carry. All villagers had similar rates of H. pylori infection, but gastric cancer occurred 25 times more often in the mountain village; coevoluton between humans and bacteria had reduced gastric cancer rates in the coastal villagers.