Author Spotlight: Detection and Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection

Gastric cancer caused by the stomach bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, kills 300, 000 people in China every year. This research describes the swallowed string test which allows us to non-invasively catch Helicobacters and then test them, so that patients can have the very best antibiotic treatment. We think every doctor in China will want to practice personalized, precision medicine by using this test to guide their treatment.

We are currently focusing on the string test development. We believe that it has the potential to revolutionize how gastric diseases can be diagnosed. String test open doors to researchers to obtain gastric samples from volunteers without the need of gastroendoscopy.

Most importantly, we hope that string test can be used to screen for early gastric cancer in the future. The combination of string test and qPCR allow us to detect H.pylori infections and its antibiotic resistance without the need to culture H.pylori. This greatly reduced the diagnostic time from three weeks to just one day and avoided the skill-dependent H.pylori culturing technique.

First, the highly sensitive and specific of the string test and qPCR combination would provide a more accurate result. Secondly, this one test can also provide an antibiotic resistance profile, which allows doctors to provide a more effective, personalized treatment. Third, researchers no longer required to obtain stomach samples, dependent on gastroenterologist.

This non-invasive method is faster and more convenient to study gastric diseases. The current study works on Helicobacter pylori infection and its antibiotic resistance all over China. Next, based on the data we have, we will improve our management by focusing on regions with higher antibiotic resistance.

In addition, the string test provides a great opportunity for us to explore novel markers for cancer prevention.