Cancer

Consumption of large amounts of allium vegetables reduces risk for gastric cancer in a meta-analysis Zhou, Y. et al. Gastroenterology doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2011.03.057

Whether allium vegetables (such as onions and leeks) have an effect on the risk of gastric cancer is controversial. A meta-analysis of 19 case–control studies and two cohort studies (543,220 participants) has found that the consumption of large amounts of allium vegetables does reduce the risk of gastric cancer. However, further studies are required to confirm that there is a connection between the consumption of allium vegetables and gastric cancer risk, as this study could have included confounding factors and exposure misclassification.

Pancreas

Intracellular activation of trypsinogen in transgenic mice induces acute but not chronic pancreatitis Gaiser, S. et al. Gut doi:10.1136/gut.2010.226175

A new model of pancreatitis has been developed in which mice express an endogenously activated trypsinogen in their pancreatic acinar cells (PACE-trypon). Mice that had high levels of PACE-trypon expression developed acute pancreatitis, whereas those with low levels of PACE-trypon expression did not. Mice that expressed PACE-trypon experienced systemic complications and mortality.

Cancer

Cancer risk in chronic hepatitis B: do genome-wide association studies hit the mark? Casper, M. et al. Hepatology 53, 1390–1392 (2011)

A genome-wide association study has genotyped 440,794 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 355 Chinese patients with chronic HBV and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 360 Chinese patients with chronic HBV but no HCC. One single nucleotide polymorphism was identified in KIF1B on chromosome 1p36.22 that was highly associated with HBV-related HCC. Thus, pathways that involve KIF1B could have a role in the pathogenesis of HCC.

IBD

Randomised placebo-controlled trial of rituximab (anti-CD20) in active ulcerative colitis Leiper, K. et al. Gut doi:10.1136/gut.2010.225482

Although rituximab (a B lymphocyte antibody) was well tolerated in a trial that included 24 patients with moderately active ulcerative colitis who had not responded to oral steroids, the drug had no significant effect on inducing remission in these patients. A short-term response to rituximab was observed; however, this response was not sustained.