In this issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation[1], researchers led by Richard Peek at Vanderbilt University investigated the influence of iron on H. pylori-induced gastric cancer.
Peek and colleagues found that low iron accelerated the development of H. pylori-associated cancerous lesions in gerbils.
Further, H. pylori strains isolated from a human population at high risk for gastric cancer were more virulent and produced greater inflammation if they came from patients with low iron levels.