# A vaccine against H. pylori for children in high-risk regions

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-hpylori-childhood-vaccine/  
OnCo record `idea-prev-hpylori-childhood-vaccine` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A childhood vaccine against the stomach bacterium behind most stomach cancer would prevent infection for life. One trial in China showed protection; the idea has stalled.

## Summary

An oral recombinant urease B vaccine showed about 72% efficacy against infection in a Chinese phase 3 in children (published 2015) but was not developed further. Propose a renewed programme of mucosal or mRNA vaccines against urease, CagA and VacA with infection-prevention and gastric precancer endpoints in high-incidence cohorts.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: A vaccine reducing childhood H. pylori acquisition by at least 60% reduces atrophic gastritis at age 30 by at least 40% and, long term, gastric cancer incidence.
- Rationale: The bacterium is a defined carcinogen; preventing chronic infection prevents the disease pathway, as HBV vaccination did for liver cancer.
- Proposed test: Phase 2 immunogenicity and infection-prevention trial in 5,000 children with three-year follow-up.
- Maturity: early-clinical
- Actor: philanthropy

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Prevention we already have is not deployed): Islami et al., Proportion of cancer attributable to modifiable risk factors (CA 2018): https://doi.org/10.3322/caac.21440

## Connected records

- cancers: [Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gastric/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)
- bottlenecks: [Prevention we already have is not deployed](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/)
- key papers: [Proportion and number of cancer cases and deaths attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors in the United States](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-islami-ca-cancer-j-clin/)

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