Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Aug 28, 2015; 7(18): 2136-2146
Published online Aug 28, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i18.2136
From the stomach to other organs: Helicobacter pylori and the liver
Marek Waluga, Michał Kukla, Michał Żorniak, Agata Bacik, Rafał Kotulski
Marek Waluga, Michał Kukla, Michał Żorniak, Agata Bacik, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 40-752 Katowice, Poland
Rafał Kotulski, Municipal Hospital, 41- 200 Sosnowiec, Poland
Author contributions: Waluga M and Żorniak M wrote the paper; Kukla M, Bacik A and Kotulski R performed the collection of the references.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Marek Waluga, MD, PhD, School of Medicine in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Medyków 18, 40-752 Katowice, Poland. mwaluga@sum.edu.pl
Telephone: +48-32-7894401 Fax: +48-32-7894402
Received: April 26, 2015
Peer-review started: April 27, 2015
First decision: July 1, 2015
Revised: August 8, 2015
Accepted: August 20, 2015
Article in press: August 21, 2015
Published online: August 28, 2015
Processing time: 125 Days and 0.6 Hours
Abstract

Many recent studies have examined the importance of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in the pathogenesis of the diseases outside the stomach and explored the significance of this bacterium in the pathogenesis of some metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies have provided evidence that H. pylori is also involved in the pathogenesis of some liver diseases. Many observations have proved that H. pylori infection is important in the development of insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. The worsening of liver inflammation of different origins also occurs during H. pylori infection. Some studies have indicated that H. pylori infection induces autoimmunological diseases in the liver and biliary tract. The potential significance of this bacterium in carcinogenesis is unclear, but it is within the scope of interest of many studies. The proposed mechanisms through which H. pylori impacts the development of hepatobiliary diseases are complex and ambiguous. The importance of other Helicobacter species in the development of hepatobiliary diseases is also considered because they could lead to the development of inflammatory, fibrotic and necrotic injuries of the liver and, consequently, to hepatocellular carcinoma. However, many contrary viewpoints indicate that some evidence is not convincing, and further studies of the subject are needed. This review presents the current knowledge about the importance of H. pylori in the pathogenesis of liver and in biliary diseases.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; Liver cirrhosis; Liver fibrosis; Hepatic carcinoma

Core tip:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is generally regarded as the risk factor of the development of gastric diseases, including cancer. However, some authors suggest that H. pylori infection can cause other disorders, including liver diseases such as non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatic carcinoma. The importance of other Helicobacter species in the development of hepatobiliary diseases is also considered. This review examines the current knowledge on the impact of H. pylori infection on the pathogenesis of liver and biliary diseases and considers various points of view.