Inflammatory bowel disease

The symptoms of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), can be severe and lifelong. And the condition is becoming increasingly common worldwide.

Inflammatory bowel disease is a growing problem in Asia. But that increase presents a golden opportunity for research.

Helminths are worms that can live in the human intestine. Joel Weinstock, a gastroenterologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, studies how they affect inflammation and the body's immune response. He spoke to Nature about how helminths might lead to treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Gene exploration is providing unexpected insights into inflammatory bowel disease, and getting scientists closer to finding treatments that target the biological mechanisms.

Four regenerative and immune-system therapies taking on the toughest cases of inflammatory bowel disease.

Transplants of faecal matter have done wonders for the treatment of certain gastrointestinal infections. Will they ever work for inflammatory bowel disease?

Many people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) also have mental health issues. Eva Szigethy, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, studies how cognitive therapy can help people with gastrointestinal problems. She spoke to Nature about the relationship between mental health and IBD.

Biologic agents have revolutionized the management of IBD and biosimilars (copy versions of the originator agents) are emerging as an alternative. This Review outlines the concept of biosimilars and their adoption in gastroenterology, their current use and future challenges.

Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for refractory Crohn's disease has the potential to halt therapy-resistant inflammation. Hawkey et al. argue that HSCT does not offer sustained benefit based upon their recent study; however, their study was designed using suboptimal end points and patients were not offered post-transplantation Crohn's disease medication.

IBD is known to be associated with an abnormal response to an unbalanced gut microbiota in genetically predisposed individuals. The therapeutic goal now is to control progression of the disease. Given the heterogeneity of IBD, the two universes of basic and clinical science must work in parallel to realize the hope of personalized therapy.

The incidence and prevalence of IBD is changing, in both established and emerging populations. Here, the epidemiological trends of IBD are described, as are the risk factors (such as genetics, microbiota and lifestyle) that might contribute to disease development. How these risk factors, particularly the environmental ones, can be modified as a means of intervention for disease management are also discussed.

IBD is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gut and major progress has been made in understanding the underlying mechanisms that mediate the disease. Here, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of the immunopathogenesis of IBD, discussing known and emerging pathogenic factors that include immune and nonimmune events.

Organoids formed by combining pluripotent-stem-cell-derived human neural crest cells with pluripotent-stem-cell-derived intestinal tissue show functional interstitial cells of Cajal and undergo waves of contraction; these tissues reveal insights into the molecular defects characterizing Hirschsprung's disease.