New genetic markers for ulcerative colitis identified

piggy submitted, created time 3 days 15 hours (www.eurekalert.org)

An international team led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers has identified genetic markers associated with risk for ulcerative colitis. The findings, which appear today as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Genetics, bring researchers closer to understanding the biological pathways involved in the disease and may lead to the development of new treatments that specifically target them.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic, relapsing disorder that causes inflammation and ulceration in the inner lining of the rectum and large intestine

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: IBD colitis Crohn's disease inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis genetic markers

Clinical studies show REMICADE reduces incidence of bowel surgeries in ulcerative colitis patients

stephen submitted, created time 1 year 2 months (www.eurekalert.org)

REMICADE significantly reduces the incidence of colectomy surgeries for patients with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. According to a primary analysis of long-term extension data from the Active Ulcerative Colitis 1 and 2 trials, there is a 41 percent reduction in the incidence of colectomy, the surgical removal of the colon, in patients receiving REMICADE through 54 weeks, compared to those receiving placebo.

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: REMICADE bowel surgery ulcerative colitis colectomy

Molecular-phylogenetic characterization of microbial community imbalances in human inflammatory bowel diseases

jiangyun submitted, created time 1 year 4 months (www.pnas.org)

The two primary human inflammatory bowel diseases, Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are idiopathic relapsing disorders characterized by chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. Although several lines of reasoning suggest that gastrointestinal (GI) microbes influence inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis, the types of microbes involved have not been adequately described. Here we report the results of a culture-independent rRNA sequence analysis of GI tissue samples obtained from CD and UC patients, as well as non-IBD controls

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: Crohns disease culture-independent microbiology ulcerative colitis rRNA

Increased susceptibility to colitis and colorectal tumors in mice lacking core 3–derived O-glycans

julie submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.jem.org)

"Altered intestinal O-glycan expression has been observed in patients with ulcerative colitis and colorectal cancer, but the role of this alteration in the etiology of these diseases is unknown. O-glycans in mucin core proteins are the predominant components of the intestinal mucus, which comprises part of the intestinal mucosal barrier. Core 3–derived O-glycans, which are one of the major types of O-glycans, are primarily expressed in the colon

Submit comment | Blog It | Email It | Keywords: colitis colorectal tumors ulcerative colitis