Helicobacter pylori and the innate immune system.

Since its discovery, Helicobacter pylori surprises us by its ability for life-long chronic persistence, proliferation, and probably active adaptation in the unfavourable niche of the human stomach, without being eliminated by the defence systems of the human body. This minireview highlights recent developments about the interaction of H. pylori with the innate immune system, and makes a case that evasion and possibly suppression of innate immune responses play an important role for the active survival in its local mucosal environment.