Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The development of COX-2 inhibitors promised to achieve the benefits of NSAIDs without gastrointestinal complications. Although clinical outcome studies have demonstrated a reduction in ulcer complications with COX-2 inhibitors the magnitude of these benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness is unclear. The cardiovascular safety of these drugs also needs to be taken into account in cost-effectiveness comparisons.
A central role is proposed for the gastrointestinal tract in graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) because the occurrence ofNOD2/CARD15mutations in the gut can predict severe GvHD. These findings could influence current therapeutic strategies for GvHD and Crohn's disease and change our understanding of their pathophysiology.
Gallstone disease continues to be a significant problem. The recent identification of mouse genes may help determine susceptibility to the disease. An infectious etiology hypothesis has also been proposed to explain the development of gallstones. Could these discoveries lead to more effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of gallstones?
At present, there is no standard treatment for cholangiocarcinoma, a fatal cancer of the biliary tree. New therapies for cholangiocarcinoma are difficult to evaluate because treatment endpoints are ill-defined. This viewpoint explains why the current endpoints are problematic and proposes a new quantitative system for assessing disease progression.
