Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a Gram-negative spiral bacterium that can cause gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric cancer but often remains asymptomatic. H. pylori may cause gastric mucosal damage and, at the same time, elude the immunological response evoked by the host. If H. pylori are not completely cleared, the mucosa would be infiltrated by the immunologically mediated, chronic, predominantly mononuclear cells. The chronic infection is characterized by the local production sand systemic diffusion of proinflammatory cytokines, which may exert their effects in the remote tissues and organic systems and result in extragastric manifestations.

Several studies performed during the past year supported a possible role for H. pylori infection in the pathogenesis of several extragastric diseases. Data collected from those studies clearly showed that the immunological response caused by this bacterium is not only locally oriented, but also systemically influenced the clinical course of other diseases. The interest for a possible role of H. pylori in the occurrence of some extragastric diseases seems to remain strong. H. pylori has been proven to affect ITP and IDA, while there is increasing evidence of a possible role of this bacterium in different extragastric diseases. Further studies are now needed to verify those findings.

We particularly take an interest in manuscripts that survey the relationship between H. pylori and systemic disease. Moreover, papers dealing with the effect of H. pylori on systemic disease, the tool for clinical guidance, would be of great interest (specificity, sensitivity, reproducibility, robustness, objective read-out, potential for automated analysis, characterization of H. pylori-related extragastric manifestations, and proven clinical guidance). Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• The relationship between H. pylori and cardiovascular diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and neurological diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and diabetes mellitus (DM)
• The relationship between H. pylori and gynecological diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and ophthalmology and skin and oral mucosa diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and respiratory and ear, nose, and throat (E.N.T.) diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and hematologic diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and hepatobiliary diseases
• The relationship between H. pylori and obesity, ghrelin, and leptin
• The relationship and other Helicobacter species and systemic disease

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