People with type O blood are more apt to develop ulcers because their stomach cells are the preferred target of a bacterium that causes the disorder, researchers say in a study published Friday.
Dr. Thomas Boren of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis said that test-tube studies show that Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium believed to cause ulcers, prefers to attack cells that have on their surface an antigen that defines the O blood type.Boren said that H. pylori attaches itself to the antigen, then gets into the cell. This leads to a chronic infection and inflammation that has been associated with ulcers. The chronic infection also has been linked to stomach cancer, he said.
Boren said that the type O antigen is found on the surface of red blood cells and on the surface of cells in the tissue that lines the stomach.