From BSG 2017

Manchester played host to the annual meeting of the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) this year, which took in 4 days of symposia, hands-on training, lectures and industry exhibits. After a Gastroenterology Master Class on the first day of the meeting, which saw speakers such as Herbert Tilg, Charlie Lees and Debbie Shawcross articulate clinical dilemmas on topics including management of obesity, biologics in IBD and abnormal liver function tests in pregnancy, presentations of new research kicked off in earnest.

Michelle Lau (Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK) presented data from a study investigating the role of a finger prick point-of-care test in predicting histological remission in patients with coeliac disease on a gluten-free diet (GFD). The test, which measures blood levels of IgA and IgG antibodies against deamidated gliadin peptides, was more sensitive for the prediction of villous atrophy (confirmed by duodenal biopsy) than other surrogate measures, including GFD adherence and levels of anti-tissue transglutaminase or anti-endomysial antibodies.

Benjamin Mullish (Imperial College London, UK) presented results from a study exploring the role of bile acid metabolism in the efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Faecal samples collected from patients with recurrent CDI before FMT had substantially different microbiota and bile acid profiles to those collected after FMT. Faecal samples after FMT were enriched for microbiota-derived bile salt hydrolases that catalyse the formation of secondary bile acids, such as deoxycholic acid, which inhibit C. difficile growth. The researchers speculate that the efficacy of FMT might, in part, result from restoration of a bile acid composition in the gut that is unfavourable to C. difficile.