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Electric stimulation of nerves might be useful for various gastrointestinal disorders. In this Review, the authors discuss neuromodulation therapies in relation to current knowledge of the nerve circuitry, provide insights into possible mechanisms and explore reasons for limited success and how effectiveness might be improved.
Innovative solutions are needed to overcome the global disparity in patients awaiting kidney transplantation versus donor organs available. A new study reports a promising new strategy of transplanting kidneys from HCV-infected donors into HCV-uninfected recipients and treating their HCV with direct-acting antivirals post-transplant — recipients achieved HCV cure with excellent one-year kidney allograft function.
An association between obesity and many cancers exists, but how obesity affects the tumour microenvironment remains poorly understood. This Review explores key pathways linking visceral obesity and gastrointestinal cancer, including inflammation, hypoxia, stromal and immune cell function, metabolism and angiogenesis.
Obesity is an established risk factor for gastrointestinal cancers. Interventions that reduce the burden of obesity at both the societal and individual level and targeted interventions among those at higher risk of cancer should be developed, supported by advances in understanding of the biology that underpins the obesity–cancer link.
Bariatric surgery-induced weight loss is associated with reduced overall cancer incidence; however, some data suggest that risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) actually increases. Here, we suggest a need to fully characterise CRC (and colorectal adenoma) risk after bariatric surgery given that preventive measures (early diagnosis and polypectomy) can mitigate risk.
Current nutritional approaches to prevent and treat various diseases have limited effectiveness. Here, Zmora et al. review the major principles underlying effects of dietary constituents on the gut microbiota, resolving aspects of the diet–microbiota–host crosstalk, and present the promises and challenges of incorporating microbiome data into dietary planning.
Cell death is a fundamental driver of liver disease progression. Here, the authors summarize the specific roles of apoptosis and necroptosis in different liver disease aetiologies, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and liver cancer.
This Poster illustrates the current epidemiology, clinical management and novel treatment targets of hepatitis B, a disease responsible for a large global burden of liver cirrhosis and cancer.
In this Review, the authors discuss how the gut microbiota might incite food sensitivity. They focus on direct and indirect mechanisms involving microorganisms and how increased understanding of these mechanisms will help the development of therapeutic strategies for food sensitivities.
Metabolic homeostasis is orchestrated partly in response to nutrient-dependent vagal afferent signals transmitted from the gut to the central nervous system. This Review highlights our understanding of the vagal afferent system and its role in regulation of appetite and glucose homeostasis.
Inflammasome signalling has a central role in the regulation of gastrointestinal health and disease. Here, an overview of inflammasome biology in relation to the gastrointestinal tract is presented, with insights into how targeted interventions might be useful to treat inflammasome-mediated gastrointestinal diseases