Abstract

Helicobacter pylori is an important transmissible human pathogen found on the luminal surface of the gastric epithelium. The organism can persist in the stomach indefinitely and causes gastroduodenal inflammation that may proceed to atrophic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric MALT lymphoma, and gastric cancer. Standard triple therapy which consists of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) plus two antibiotics (amoxicillin and clarithromycin) is now generally used in Korea, however, eradication rates of H. pylori has been decreasing due to increasing antibiotic resistance. In this review, current second-line treatment regimens, difficult problems on treatment, necessity of local target therapy, applicability of clay minerals as a drug delivery system (DDS), and a new therapeutic strategy and its study plans will be discussed.

Keywords Helicobacter pylori, amoxicillin, clarithromycin, local target therapy, drug delivery system (DDS), clay minerals