Colonization of the stomach by Helicobacter pylori is the trigger for a series of gastric mucosal changes that culminate in gastric cancer. Infection with this bacterium is considered the major risk factor for this malignancy. The introduction of high-throughput sequencing technologies coupled to advanced computational pipelines offered an improved understanding of the microbiome, and it is now currently accepted that, besides H. pylori, the stomach harbours a complex microbial community. While it is well established that H. pylori plays a central role in gastric carcinogenesis, the significance of the non-H. pylori microbiota is yet to be clarified. This review will address the state of the art on the relationship between the gastric microbiota and gastric cancer development, and identify areas where additional research is needed before translating microbiome research into preventive and therapeutic strategies to reduce gastric cancer burden.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; Gastric microbiota; Gastric precancerous lesions; Helicobacter pylori.
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