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Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) aims to restore an altered microbiota and has been suggested as a potential treatment option for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), among other diseases. A new study suggests that the use of a so-called superdonor is necessary to successfully treat patients with IBS using FMT.
Interactions between intestinal epithelial cells, the gut microbiota and immune cells have a key role in maintaining gut homeostasis. This Review describes how epithelial recognition of bacteria through Toll-like receptors participates in establishing homeostasis, and how dysregulation of these receptors can lead to dysbiosis, increasing susceptibility to colitis and tumorigenesis.
Organoid technology has emerged as a powerful method for studying gastrointestinal cancers. This Review describes organoid models of gastrointestinal cancers, such as colorectal and liver cancer, and discusses how they can be used in basic and translational research in fields such as drug discovery and personalized medicine.
The incidence of early-onset colorectal cancer (in patients <50 years old) is increasing at an alarming rate. This Review highlights potential risk factors and putative mechanisms that drive this disease, and suggests likely areas for fruitful research, including diet, stress and antibiotics.
Alterations in the gut microbiota and metabolite profiles of patients with IBD have been described. In this Review, Lavelle and Sokol discuss these alterations and their pathophysiological basis, and identify future targets for precision therapeutic modulation.
This Perspective discusses the use of antidepressants in disorders of gut–brain interaction (DGBI) and IBD, focusing on how what we have learnt about the role of antidepressants in DGBI could help optimize the management of IBD.
The small intestine is a key site for the absorption of nutrients, including lipids. In this Review, the physiology and biochemistry of intestinal fat absorption during health and disease is discussed, including insights into enterocyte biology and clinical disorders of intestinal fat absorption.
KRAS mutations are identified in >80% of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and tend to be associated with reduced overall survival. This Review discusses the role of oncogenic KRAS in the biology, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Radiotherapy is used to treat malignancies including gastrointestinal cancers but resistance to radiation can occur owing to biological alterations within the tumour and/or the surrounding microenvironment. Radiosensitizers are needed to improve treatment response to radiation. This Review discusses strategies being used to enhance radiosensitivity in gastrointestinal cancers according to the hallmarks of cancer.
A novel MRI gadolinium-based contrast agent designed to bind with collagen, a key component in liver fibrosis progression, provides direct quantification of collagen deposition in several preclinical liver disease models. This tool could have large implications in clinical diagnosis and drug trials.
Cancer therapies, in addition to inducing cell death, can trigger cellular senescence of tumour cells, and factors secreted from senescent cells might negatively affect the tumour microenvironment. A new study by Wang et al. shows that eradication of therapy-induced senescent cells (senolysis) can improve the outcome of liver cancer therapy.
A new study has identified an intestinal stem cell population involved in epithelial regeneration upon injury in mice and provided an in vitro tool with which to characterize the recurrent damage–repair mechanisms affecting chronic gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease.
In 2019, to help meet viral hepatitis targets from the WHO, studies have developed optimal strategies to enable transplantation of HCV-positive organs, assessed the real-world efficacy of salvage therapy for direct-acting antiviral therapy failures in chronic HCV infection and evaluated the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma with current first-line antiviral therapies for chronic HBV infection.
Several big data ‘omics’ studies have analysed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This Review describes omics studies in HCC and their potential in drug discovery and as candidate biomarkers. The application of emerging new artificial intelligence methods in HCC drug discovery is also discussed.
Epigenetic modifications and regulators, including DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNA species, have key pathophysiological roles in colorectal cancer (CRC). This Review outlines these epigenetic aberrations in CRC and their potential as diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
