Chapters authored
Development of a Novel Antibacterial Medicine that Targets a Characteristic Lipid of the Cell Membranes of Helicobacter pylori
Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent causes of gastritis. This pathogen colonizes for many years human stomach and asymptomatically leads the persons to chronic gastritis. The eradication of H. pylori from human stomach is, therefore, important in order to prevent the digestive diseases including peptic ulcers and gastric cancer that develop via chronic atrophic gastritis. Wide-spectrum antibiotics such as amoxicillin and metronidazole are used for the treatment for H. pylori infectious diseases. However, the H. pylori strains resistant to these antibiotics are increasing year by year around the world. On this basis, we need urgently to develop the antibacterial medicines that act on H. pylori with a novel mechanism. Recent studies by our group have demonstrated that H. pylori shows susceptibility to the bactericidal action of indene compounds derived from decomposition of vitamin D. The bactericidal action of indene compounds is selective not against commonplace bacteria but against H. pylori. The indene compounds turned out to target the H. pylori’s phosphatidylethanolamine that retains a myristic acid as the saturated fatty acid side chain. These findings will contribute to the development of new antibacterial medicines specialized to the treatment for H. pylori infectious diseases.
Part of the book: Gastritis