Effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on stromal-derived factor-1/CXCR4 axis in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that during chronic Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection bone marrow-derived-mesenchymal stem cells (BMD-MSCs) migrate to the gastric tissue and could be also the origin of gastric adenocarcinoma. The chemokine CXCR4 through binding to its ligand stromal-derived factor (SDF-1) plays a crucial role in migration of inflammatory and stem cells.