scholarly journals Role of Intestinal Microflora in Initiation and Perpetuation of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
RB Sartor

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease occur in regions of the intestine colonized by the highest concentrations of normal flora bacteria and resemble certain chronic bacterial, viral or parasitic infections. However, the role of endogenous and pathogenic bacteria in the induction and perpetuation of chronic idiopathic intestinal inflammation remains controversial. No convincing evidence incriminates a single bacterial, mycobacterial or viral agent as the cause of a high percentage of cases of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Subtle alterations of luminal microbial flora are nearly impossible to detect, but concentrations of certain anaerobic bacteria, including Bacteroides vulgatus, are increased in active Crohn's disease and correlate with disease activity. Recent investigations suggest mechanisms which bacteria may induce an autoimmune response through molecular mimicry or alterations in host antigens or immunoregulation. Intestinal bacteria contain formylated peptides and cell wall polymers ( endotoxin and peptidoglycan-polysaccharide complexes) which have potent and well characterized inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties and can produce acute and chronic intestinal and systemic inflammation in experimental animals. These proinflammatory molecules are probably absorbed more readily in IBO due ro increased mucosa! permeability during active and perhaps quiescent phases of disease. While the primary mechanisms of intestinal injury remain unknown, it is likely that commensal bacteria and their products amplify and perpetuate the inflammatory response of IBO and may be responsible for extraintestinal manifestations in addition to the frequent septic complications of these diseases.

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 404-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Grant Gall

As no curative therapy exists, supportive measures play an important role in the management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBO). Aminosalicylic acid (ASA) compounds and corticosteroids remain the mainstay of medical therapy. Aminosalicylates are recommended for therapy of mild to moderate active ulcerative colitis and for the maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis. The role of 5-ASA preparations in Crohn's disease is less clear. In granulomatous colitis, 5-ASA therapy is recommended. With the development of new delivery systems, the role for 5-ASA in the treatment of small bowel Crohn's disease is under investigation. Prednisone remains the drug of choice in severe ulcerative colitis and active Crohn's disease. The role of immunosuppressive drugs in pediatric patients is unclear. Nutritional therapy has been an important advance in the treatment of children with Crohn's disease, especially those with growth failure. Nutritional therapy can consist of combined total parenteral and enteral nutrition or enteral nutrition alone. An initial period of total parenteral nutrition followed by a six to eight week course of enteral therapy with a semisynthetic diet has been shown to be effective in the management of patients with severe active disease and growth failure.


Gut ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
N P Breslin ◽  
A Todd ◽  
C Kilgallen ◽  
C O’Morain

Background—A large number of monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs with inflammatory bowel disease have been reported. To date no twin pair has developed phenotypically discordant inflammatory bowel disease. This case report is the first documented occurrence of discordant inflammatory bowel disease occurring in monozygotic twins.Case report—Twenty two year old identical male twins presented within three months of each other with inflammatory bowel disease that proved to be discordant in overall disease type, disease distribution, clinical course, and histopathological findings. Twin 1 developed a severe pancolitis necessitating total colectomy while twin 2 developed a predominantly distal patchy colitis with frequent granulomas, controlled by aminosalicylates. Twin 1 was antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) negative at the time of testing while twin 2 (Crohn’s disease) was ANCA positive. Significantly, the twins possessed the HLA type DR3-DR52-DQ2 previously associated with extensive colitis.Conclusion—This case report confirms the important role played by genetic factors in the development of inflammatory bowel disease. It also highlights the crucial role of undetermined environmental agents in dictating disease expression and phenotype.


Author(s):  
Catarina Frias-Gomes ◽  
Joana Torres ◽  
Carolina Palmela

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Intestinal ultrasound is emerging as a non-invasive tool for monitoring disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease patients due to its low cost, excellent safety profile, and availability. Herein, we comprehensively review the role of intestinal ultrasound in the management of these patients. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> Intestinal ultrasound has a good accuracy in the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, as well as in the assessment of disease activity, extent, and evaluating disease-related complications, namely strictures, fistulae, and abscesses. Even though not fully validated, several scores have been developed to assess disease activity using ultrasound. Importantly, intestinal ultrasound can also be used to assess response to treatment. Changes in ultrasonographic parameters are observed as early as 4 weeks after treatment initiation and persist during short- and long-term follow-up. Additionally, Crohn’s disease patients with no ultrasound improvement seem to be at a higher risk of therapy intensification, need for steroids, hospitalisation, or even surgery. Similarly to Crohn’s disease, intestinal ultrasound has a good performance in the diagnosis, activity, and disease extent assessment in ulcerative colitis patients. In fact, in patients with severe acute colitis, higher bowel wall thickness at admission is associated with the need for salvage therapy and the absence of a significant decrease in this parameter may predict the need for colectomy. Short-term data also evidence the role of intestinal ultrasound in evaluating therapy response, with ultrasound changes observed after 2 weeks of treatment and significant improvement after 12 weeks of follow-up in ulcerative colitis. <b><i>Key Messages:</i></b> Intestinal ultrasound is a valuable tool to assess disease activity and complications, and to monitor response to therapy. Even though longer prospective data are warranted, intestinal ultrasound may lead to a change in the paradigm of inflammatory bowel disease management as it can be used in a point-of-care setting, enabling earlier intervention if needed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-119
Author(s):  
Jonathan Braun ◽  
Yadrira Valles-Ayoub ◽  
Linda Berberian ◽  
Mark Eggena ◽  
Lynn K Gordon ◽  
...  

Clonal patterns of B cell activity have been recognized in inflammatory bowel disease, most notably in the immunogenetic relationship of perinuclear-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies to ulcerative colitis. Conceptually, this most likely reflects the B cell response to antigens predominating at these sites of mucosal inflammation. Identification of these B cell clones and their antigenic targets may be of pathogenetic and practical importance to diagnosis and treatment. The authors describe strategies to identify such clones, based on recent advances in the characterization and detection of antibody gene products. As an example of this strategy, a clonal detection system was used to identify new marker antibodies potentially useful in the laboratory diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. One surprising outcome of such studies is the unexpected and specific association of the B cell clonal response inCampylobacter jejunienterocolitis and inflammatory bowel disease. By analogy to the pathogenetic role ofHelicobacter pylori-induced mucositis in peptic ulcer disease, this evidence renews attention to the role of Cjejuniin the initiation of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Ardesia ◽  
Guido Ferlazzo ◽  
Walter Fries

Vitamin D deficiency has been recognized as an environmental risk factor for Crohn’s disease since the early 80s. Initially, this finding was correlated with metabolic bone disease. Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels have been repeatedly reported in inflammatory bowel diseases together with a relationship between vitamin D status and disease activity. Subsequently, low serum vitamin D levels have been reported in various immune-related diseases pointing to an immunoregulatory role. Indeed, vitamin D and its receptor (VDR) are known to interact with different players of the immune homeostasis by controlling cell proliferation, antigen receptor signalling, and intestinal barrier function. Moreover, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D is implicated in NOD2-mediated expression of defensin-β2, the latter known to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease (IBD1 gene), and several genetic variants of the vitamin D receptor have been identified as Crohn’s disease candidate susceptibility genes. From animal models we have learned that deletion of the VDR gene was associated with a more severe disease. There is a growing body of evidence concerning the therapeutic role of vitamin D/synthetic vitamin D receptor agonists in clinical and experimental models of inflammatory bowel disease far beyond the role of calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism.


1988 ◽  
Vol 27 (03) ◽  
pp. 83-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Briele ◽  
F. Wolf ◽  
H. J. Biersack ◽  
F. F. Knapp ◽  
A. Hotze

A prospective study was initiated to compare the clinically proven results concerning localization/extent and activity of inflammatory bowel diseases with those of 111ln-oxine leukocyte imaging. All patients studied were completely examined with barium enema x-ray, clinical and laboratory investigations, and endoscopy with histopathology. A total of 31 leukocyte scans were performed in 15 patients (12 with Crohn’s disease, 3 with ulcerative colitis). The scans were graded by comparing the cell uptake of a lesion (when present) and a bone marrow area providing a count ratio (CR). The inflammatory lesions were correctly localized on 26 leukocyte scans, and in 21 scans the scintigraphically estimated extent of disease was identical to endoscopy. In 5 cases the disease extent was underestimated, 4 scans in patients with relapse of Crohn’s disease were falsely negative, and in one patient with remission truly negative. The scintigraphically assessed disease activity was also in a good agreement with clinical disease activity based on histopathology in all cases. We conclude that leukocyte imaging provides valuable information about localization and activity of inflammatory bowel disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maliha Naseer ◽  
Shiva Poola ◽  
Syed Ali ◽  
Sami Samiullah ◽  
Veysel Tahan

The incidence, prevalence, and cost of care associated with diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease are on the rise. The role of gut microbiota in the causation of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis has not been established yet. Nevertheless, several animal models and human studies point towards the association. Targeting intestinal dysbiosis for remission induction, maintenance, and relapse prevention is an attractive treatment approach with minimal adverse effects. However, the data is still conflicting. The purpose of this article is to provide the most comprehensive and updated review on the utility of prebiotics and probiotics in the management of active Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis/pouchitis and their role in the remission induction, maintenance, and relapse prevention. A thorough literature review was performed on PubMed, Ovid Medline, and EMBASE using the terms “prebiotics AND ulcerative colitis”, “probiotics AND ulcerative colitis”, “prebiotics AND Crohn's disease”, “probiotics AND Crohn's disease”, “probiotics AND acute pouchitis”, “probiotics AND chronic pouchitis” and “prebiotics AND pouchitis”. Observational studies and clinical trials conducted on humans and published in the English language were included. A total of 71 clinical trials evaluating the utility of prebiotics and probiotics in the management of inflammatory bowel disease were reviewed and the findings were summarized. Most of these studies on probiotics evaluated lactobacillus, De Simone Formulation or Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 and there is some evidence supporting these agents for induction and maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis and prevention of pouchitis relapse with minimal adverse effects. The efficacy of prebiotics such as fructooligosaccharides and Plantago ovata seeds in ulcerative colitis are inconclusive and the data regarding the utility of prebiotics in pouchitis is limited. The results of the clinical trials for remission induction and maintenance in active Crohn's disease or post-operative relapse with probiotics and prebiotics are inadequate and not very convincing. Prebiotics and probiotics are safe, effective and have great therapeutic potential. However, better designed clinical trials in the multicenter setting with a large sample and long duration of intervention are needed to identify the specific strain or combination of probiotics and prebiotics which will be more beneficial and effective in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burton I Korelitz ◽  
Judy Schneider

Abstract We present a bird’s eye view of the prognosis for both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease as contained in the database of an Inflammatory Bowel Disease gastroenterologist covering the period from 1950 until the present utilizing the variables of medical therapy, surgical intervention, complications and deaths by decades.


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