AUTHOR=Muñoz Angela B. , Stepanian Johanna , Trespalacios Alba Alicia , Vale Filipa F. 

TITLE=Bacteriophages of Helicobacter pylori

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.549084

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.549084

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The bacterium <italic>Helicobacter pylori</italic> colonize the stomach in approximately half of the world’s population. Infection with this bacterium is associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer, adenocarcinoma, and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Besides being a pathogen with worldwide prevalence, <italic>H. pylori</italic> show increasingly high antibiotic resistance rates, making the development of new therapeutic strategies against this bacterium challenging. Furthermore, <italic>H. pylori</italic> is a genetically diverse bacterium, which may be influenced by the presence of mobile genomic elements, including prophages. In this review, we analyze these issues and summarize various reports and findings related to phages and <italic>H. pylori</italic>, discussing the relationship between the presence of these elements and the genomic diversity, virulence, and fitness of this bacterium. We also analyze the state of the knowledge on the potential utility of bacteriophages as a therapeutic strategy for <italic>H. pylori</italic>.</p>