Hypothesis: Long-term infection with Helicobacter pylori and the associated gastritis is now thought to cause a predisposition to gastric cancer through cellular changes resulting from inflammatory damage or because of direct effects of the bacterium. MICE AS MODELS FOR H. PYLORI-ASSOCIATED GASTRIC CANCER: Long-term infection of conventional Swiss mice with either H. felis or H. heilmannii results in atrophic gastritis. Infection of specific pathogen-free Balb/c mice results in the development of lesions similar to H. pylori-associated low-grade B-cell gastric lymphomas.
Conclusion: H. pylori-infected mice appear to be excellent models for the study of tumours induced by this bacterium.