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Gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori reduces the risk of developing bronchial asthma
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The Helicobacter pylori bacterium re-educates the host's immune system so that it stops attacking the bacterium itself, and also the cells of the respiratory tract, which significantly reduces the likelihood of developing bronchial asthma.
The gastric bacterium Helicobacter pylori has long been accused of causing a range of dangerous diseases, from stomach ulcers to cancer. In the end, decisive steps were taken to rid the world of this dangerous and very common bacterium.
Indeed, after H. Pylori declared war, the statistics on stomach cancer in Europe and North America declined. But at the same time, cases of asthma became more frequent. The connection between the bacterium and asthma became more and more obvious, but nobody could demonstrate specific mechanisms of H. Pylori's influence on the immune system.
The reason for asthma is that immunity begins to attack the cells of the respiratory system, which is expressed in the inflammation and narrowing of the airways. Researchers from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) managed to show how the intestinal bacterium teaches immunity of tolerance and discretion.
Two types of immune T cells determine the strength of the immune response: some stimulate inflammation, others, T-regulators, on the contrary, restrain. The adequacy of immunity depends on the balance between them. Asthma begins to develop when the "hawks" become larger. An article published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation says that H. Pylori reprograms tree-like immune cells so that immunity does not affect H. Pylori itself. It is obvious that H. Pylori acts in its own interests, but the owner also benefits from it. The treelike cells shift the T-cell balance in favor of T-regulators. As a result, the immune system disappears pathological vigilance, and it ceases to attack its own.
People who have H. Pylori in their stomachs will not necessarily get cancer, but they are guaranteed to be protected against asthma. It is believed that this bacterium behaves well and even benefits, while nothing disturbs it. However, many scientists believe that this is too capricious a symbiotic, so that the benefit from it is blocked by the harm that it can cause. In the modern world, we are constantly exposed to a variety of stresses, and it is unlikely that today it is possible to maintain a good relationship all the way with a wayward bacterium. And getting rid of asthma to get cancer later does not seem like an equivalent replacement.
Researchers are already working to determine the substance by which H. Pylori re-educates the immune system. With its help, you can protect yourself from asthma without having to let this very conventionally useful symbiont into your stomach.
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