In comparison to healthy mucosa, expression of the intestine-specific transcription factor caudal type homeobox 2 (CDX2) negatively correlated with SHH expression in the corpus lesser curve of gastric cancer patients indicating that H. pylori might employ SHH expression in gastric atrophy and intestinal metaplasia during the development and/or progression of gastric carcinogenesis [144] (Fig. 3a). Here, CDX2 is linked to chronic atrophic gastritis.