Journal of physiology and pharmacology : an official journal of the Polish Physiological Society
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J. Physiol. Pharmacol. · Aug 2001
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in coronary artery disease: influence of H. pylori eradication on coronary artery lumen after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. The detection of H. pylori specific DNA in human coronary atherosclerotic plaque.
The role of infections in pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has been a point of extensive discussion and research. Chronic infection has been proposed to account for the formation and progression of atherosclerotic plaques. Gastric mucosal damage caused by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) involves various bacterial and host-dependent toxic substances that have been recently associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). ⋯ 1) There is a significant link between CAD and infection with H. pylori, especially expressing CagA proteins; 2) Patients infected with CagA-positive H. pylori show significantly greater coronary artery lumen loss and arterial re-stenosis after PTCA with stent implantation; 3) H. pylori eradication significantly attenuates the reduction in coronary artery lumen in CAD patients after PTCA possibly due to the elimination of chronic inflammation and the decline in proinflammatory cytokine release and 4) The identification of DNA in atherosclerotic plaques of patients with severe CAD supports the hypothesis that infection with H. pylori (especially CagA positive) may influence the development of atherosclerosis.