| Summary: | The Gram-negative bacterium <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> colonizes c.a. 50% of human stomachs worldwide and is the major risk factor for gastric adenocarcinoma. Its high genetic variability makes it difficult to identify biomarkers of early stages of infection that can reliably predict its outcome. Moreover, the increasing antibiotic resistance found in <i>H. pylori</i> defies therapy, constituting a major human health problem. Here, we review <i>H. pylori</i> virulence factors and genes involved in antibiotic resistance, as well as the technologies currently used for their detection. Furthermore, we show that next generation sequencing may lead to faster characterization of virulence factors and prediction of the antibiotic resistance profile, thus contributing to personalized treatment and management of <i>H. pylori</i>-associated infections. With this new approach, more and permanent data will be generated at a lower cost, opening the future to new applications for <i>H. pylori</i> biomarker identification and antibiotic resistance prediction.
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