by Rene van den Wijngaard
Whether environmental and microbial factors are the cause or consequence of Crohn’s disease is still subject to debate. Two recent studies by the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada—Genetic, Environmental, Microbial project have identified new clues.
Differences in the gut microbiota in patients with IBD compared to healthy controls suggest that probiotics may be of help. This article takes an in-depth look into the rationale of using probiotics for IBD and summarizes the evidence from recent clinical guidelines for the use of probiotics in Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and pouchitis.
by Amber Hann, Heather Galipeau
Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic remitting and relapsing condition that causes severe inflammation of the intestines and disabling bowel symptoms. It affects millions of lives globally, and although alterations in the gut microbiome have been associated with IBD, precise mechanisms remain incompletely understood. New research from McMaster University now implicates bacterial proteases in Crohn’s disease.
by Andreu Prados
Scientists have discovered a fungus that delays wound healing in mice and is enriched in inflamed tissue from patients with Crohn’s disease. The findings, coupled with the discovery of an engineered yeast that suppresses inflammation in a mouse model of colitis, highlights the potential of studying fungi-host interactions in IBD.
by Rene van den Wijngaard
Despite the fact that current guidelines for managing inflammatory bowel diseases do not devote attention to diet as a central element of treatment, there is an increasing amount of evidence that supports the role of diet in patients with IBD. A new nationwide cohort study shows the association between the level of inflammatory potential in diet and risk of Crohn’s disease.
by Allison Clark
Scientists struggle to understand why some gut bacteria are sensitive to antibiotics while a fraction of them survive treatment. New research in mice reveals that gut microbial metabolism alongside diet play a key role in modifying the extent of gut microbiome disruption in response to antibiotics.
by GMFH Editing Team
Clinicians struggle with finding a single risk marker for predicting early postoperative endoscopic recurrence in Crohn’s disease. Researchers from Saint Antoine Hospital and other institutions reveal that ileal mucosa-associated microbiota may help predict recurrence in patients with CD after ileocecal resection.
by GMFH Editing Team
Scientists struggle with elucidating how host and gut microbiome interact for shaping the genetic susceptibility of IBD. In 633 IBD patients, Harry Sokol and colleagues have found associations between genetic variants associated with a higher risk of IBD and the depletion of certain gut bacterial taxa.
by GMFH Editing Team
GMFH continue to cover the important progress made in our knowledge of the gut microbiota's impact on wellbeing and disease.
by Andreu Prados
The researchers studied the influence of genotypic and phenotypic factors on the gut microbiota and characterized the mucosal microbiota in 21 patients with quiescent Crohn’s disease (CD), 17 young healthy siblings of CD patients and 19 unrelated healthy controls.
