Immunity and Vaccine Development Against Helicobacter pylori

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori is a highly-adapted gastrointestinal pathogen of humans and the immunology of this chronic infection is extremely complex. Despite the availability of antibiotic therapy, the global incidence of H. pylori infection remains high, particularly in low to middle-income nations. Failure of therapy and the spread of antibiotic resistance among the bacteria are significant problems and provide impetus for the development of new therapies and vaccines to treat or prevent gastric ulcer, and gastric carcinoma. The expansion of knowledge on gastric conventional and regulatory T cell responses, and the role of TH17 in chronic gastritis from studies in mouse models and patients have provided valuable insights into how gastritis is initiated and maintained. The development of human challenge models for testing candidate vaccines has meant a unique opportunity to study acute infection, but the field of vaccine development has not progressed as rapidly as anticipated. One clear lesson learned from previous studies is that we need a better understanding of the immune suppressive mechanisms in vivo to be able to design vaccine strategies. There is still an urgent need to identify practical surrogate markers of protection that could be deployed in future field vaccine trials. Important developments in our understanding of the chronic inflammatory response, progress and problems arising from human studies, and an outlook for the future of clinical vaccine trials will be discussed.