Helicobacter and Campylobacter infections

Principal Investigator

Hilpi Rautelin, MD PhD, Senior Lecturer
Specialist of Clinical Microbiology
Clinical Teacher, Senior Lecturer
Professor of Clinical Bacteriology (University of Uppsala, Sweden)
Department of Bacteriology and Immunology
Room: B128
Tel: +358 2941 26716
Fax: +358 2941 26382
hilpi.rautelin (at) helsinki.fi

Senior Scientist

Timo U Kosunen, MD, Assoc.prof. emer.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Aino Oksanen, MD PhD, Specialist of Internal Medicine (Herttoniemi Hospital)
Lea Veijola, MD, PhD, Specialist of Gastroenterology (Herttoniemi Hospital)

Graduate Students

Benjamin Feodoroff, MD
Pirkko Kostamo, MD (Helsinki Health Care)

Laboratory: B123
Office: B127
Tel: +358 2941 26459 (laboratory)
Tel: +358 2941 26298, 26296 (offices)

Research Interests

The research of our group is mainly focused on Campylobacter and Helicobacter infections. There is a close contact with the research group in Uppsala. As Campylobacter infections are concerned our main interest is on Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli infections: origin and risk factors, antimicrobial susceptibility and resistance mechanisms, as well as isolate characteristics (genotypes, virulence factors) in association with different outcomes of the disease and complications. In Campylobacter research we have a close cooperation with the researchers at the Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

In Helicobacter infections we study the role of H. pylori in different gastrointestinal diseases, especially in atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer. Our aim is to improve the diagnosis of an ongoing H. pylori infection in advanced atrophic gastritis and to study factors leading to atrophic gastritis and other late sequelae of the chronic infection. Characteristics of autoimmune type atrophic gastritis which may differ from those of  H. pylori related atrophic gastritis are also under investigation. We also study the effects of active H. pylori eradication. We have close contacts with a large range of experts representing different medical fields.

Selected Publications

• Kosunen TU, Pukkala E, Sarna S, Seppälä K, Aromaa A, Knekt P, Rautelin H: Gastric cancers in Finnish patients after cure of Helicobacter pylori infection: A cohort study. Int J Cancer 2011; 128: 433-9. Epub 2010 Mar 22.

• Salomaa-Räsänen A, Kosunen TU, Aromaa AR, Knekt P, Sarna S, Rautelin H: A "screen-and-treat" approach for Helicobacter pylori infection: a population-based study in Vammala, Finland. Helicobacter 2010; 15: 28-37.

• Rautelin HI, Oksanen AM, Veijola LI, Sipponen PI, Tervahartiala TI, Sorsa TA, Lauhio A: Enhanced systemic matrix metalloproteinase response in Helicobacter pylori gastritis. Ann Med 2009; 41: 208-15.

• Feodoroff FB, Lauhio AR, Sarna SJ, Hänninen ML, Rautelin HI: Severe diarrhoea caused by highly ciprofloxacin-suceptible Campylobacter isolates. Clin Microbiol Infect 2009; 15: 188-192.

• de Haan CP, Kivistö R, Hakkinen M, Rautelin H, Hänninen ML: Decreasing trend of overlapping multilocus sequence types between human and chicken Campylobacter jejuni isolates over a decade in Finland. Appl Environm Microbiol 2010; 76: 5228-5236 Epub 2010 Jun 11.