Yonsei research team links bacteria to stomach cancer

A local research team found out the process of helicobacter pylori bacterium developing into stomach cancer. For the world’s first time, the research found out a specific series of signal transmission starting from a protein existed in the helicobacter bacteria.

The protein called CagA triggers growth and spread of carcinogenic protein called the snail protein. Human bodies without helicobacter bacteria automatically deter growth of the carcinogenic protein.

Lee Yong-chan, a gastroenterology professor at Yonsei University College of Medicine and leader of the joint research team between the university’s medical and dentistry colleges, said he hopes this research result to help development of treatment methods for stomach cancer and to help people in preventing from being infected.

The helicobacter bacteria are known to be the main cause of gastritis and stomach ulcer, and those with the bacteria have double to triple higher risks of getting stomach cancer than people without the bacteria.

It has been named to be the first-degree cancer causing factor for stomach cancer according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a research institute under the World Health Organization.

The study is specifically crucial for Koreans, as about 60 percent of Korean people were found to have helicobacter bacterium in 2005. Stomach cancer is most frequently found cancer in the country.