Volume 15 Issue 10, October 2018

New findings show that disease-specific T cells that target gluten in patients with coeliac disease persist for decades. The data highlight a central role for a highly select and stable population of T cells in disease persistence and support the feasibility of diagnostics and therapies targeting these cells.

A new report in Science by Ma and colleagues uncovers the interplay of microbiota-controlled bile acid metabolism and immune responses in the context of primary and metastatic liver tumours in mice. Their findings shed light on the gut–liver axis in hepatic malignancies.

Pancreatic cancer is a disease with high tumour heterogeneity and dismal prognosis. There are few therapeutic options and many promising drugs have failed in patients, which makes better models to predict drug efficacy a key research priority. Now, a new study shows that patient-derived organoids can be used for molecular and therapeutic profiling and might be useful to predict clinical responses.

Current effective treatment options for IBS and other functional bowel disorders are limited. This Review focuses on new and emerging therapies that target the entire symptom complex in these common disorders.

Metabolic surgery is the best treatment for long-term weight loss maintenance and comorbidity control. In this Review, the authors discuss how gut physiology adapts to these procedures and the consequent effects on food intake, weight loss, liver disease and cancer.

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.

Intraepithelial T cells (IETs) are a unique collection of T cells located at the epithelial barrier. This Review highlights the role of these cells in gut homeostasis and disease, including coeliac disease and IBD. Targeting of IETs in therapeutic interventions is also discussed.