An international consortium of Crohn's disease researchers has combined data from three independent studies to identify 21 new genetic variants associated with the inflammatory bowel disorder, bringing the total number of risk factors to 32.

New research has trebled the number of genetic regions known to be implicated in Crohn's disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, to over thirty.

Hospitals with higher annual volumes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who undergo surgery have lower in-hospital mortality rates than hospitals with lower volumes of IBD patients, according to a new study by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Scientists search for drug candidates in some very unlikely places. Not only do they churn out synthetic compounds in industrial-scale laboratories, but they also scour coral reefs and scrape tree bark in the hope of stumbling upon an unsuspecting molecule that just might turn into next year’s big block buster.

In polarized Caco-2 cells, cholesterol was depleted by a combination of synthesis inhibition and plasma membrane extraction with complexing agents. This led to an increased sorting of CEA to the basolateral surface. Interestingly, polarity was not significantly affected by this approach. The association of CEA to lipid rafts, cholesterol, and sphingolipid-enriched microdomains was inhibited in parallel.

What is believed to be the largest study of its kind for the genetic roots of inflammatory bowel diseases has suggested new links to Crohn’s Disease as well as further evidence that some people of Jewish descent are more likely to develop it.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic recurrent gastrointestinal disease. The disease has a relatively higher morbidity in young adults, in whom growth, education, employment and wellbeing all are adversely influenced. A number of guidelines for management of inflammatory bowel disease are available for bringing evidence-based medicine into full play to improve IBD patient care.

Researchers found that mesalamine use among patients with inflammatory bowel disease was associated with a decrease in incidence of colorectal cancer when comparing cases and controls.

Clostridium difficile infection is four times more likely to kill patients with inflammatory bowel disease, suggests research published ahead of print in the journal Gut.

The use of biologic agents for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may benefit patients, but doctors need to consider the potential associated side effects in determining treatment course, according to a consensus paper published in this month’s issue of Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute.

4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC) reported positive results for its drug candidate SC12267 in a preclinical proof of concept study for the treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition to the indication of rheumatoid arthritis, which is presently evaluated in a clinical phase IIa study, the company is thus opening up a further important autoimmune disease indication for this agent, which may significantly increase the substance's market potential.

Diverticulosis is a common disease of the large intestine characterized by pouches in the colon that bulge outward through weak spots in the colon musculature. These pouches can become inflamed, a complication referred to as diverticulitis, or they can bleed, often profusely.