BACKGROUND: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a rare disease but a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. A number of etiological factors have been implicated in the causation of GBC and pathogenic infection by bacteria is one of these.
DATA SOURCES: A PubMed search on "helicobacter", "gallbladder cancer", and "biliary tract malignancies" was done on the topic, and the relevant data were collected, reviewed, and analyzed.
RESULTS: Helicobacter is an epsilon proteobacterium that infects the mucosal lining of the human gastrobiliary system. Infection with helicobacter is an important risk factor for the development of cancer and the bacterium has been categorized as a group-Ⅰcarcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). These microbes enter the human body by means of contaminated food and water. Thereby they invade the tissues and produce chemical carcinogens that lead to DNA damage and subsequently a series of gene mutations transform normal cells into cancer cells. In this review, we focus our attention on the role of helicobacter in the causation of biliary tract malignancies.
CONCLUSIONS: The review attempts to summarize the current available data on the role of helicobacter in the causation of GBC. There are accountable data available to suggest the role of helicobacter species in the causation of GBC although larger studies are urgently required for confirmation.