Review Article Biofilm Formation by Helicobacter pylori and Its Involvement for Antibiotic Resistance

Copyright © 2015 Hideo Yonezawa et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Bacterial biofilms are communities ofmicroorganisms attached to a surface. Biofilm formation is critical not only for environmental survival but also for successful infection. Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common causes of bacterial infection in humans. Some studies demonstrated that this microorganism has biofilm forming ability in the environment and on human gastric mucosa epithelium as well as on in vitro abiotic surfaces. In the environment, H. pylori could be embedded in drinking water biofilms through water distribution system in developed and developing countries so that the drinking water may serve as a reservoir for H. pylori infection. In the human stomach, H. pylori forms biofilms on the surface of gastric mucosa, suggesting one possible explanation for eradication therapy failure. Finally, based on the results of in vitro analyses,H. pylori biofilm formation can decrease susceptibility to antibiotics andH. pylori antibiotic resistancemutations aremore frequently generated in biofilms than in planktonic cells. These observations indicated that H. pylori biofilm formation may play an important role in preventing and controlling H. pylori infections. Therefore, investigation of H. pylori biofilm formation could be effective in elucidating the detailed mechanisms of infection and colonization by this microorganism. 1