Gastrointest. Disord., Volume 1, Issue 2 (June 2019) – 6 articles

TGF-β superfamily signaling is responsible for many critical cellular functions including control of cell growth, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, and apoptosis. TGF-β appears to be critical in gastrulation, embryonic development, and morphogenesis, and it retains pleiotropic roles in many adult tissues and cell types in a highly context-dependent manner. While TGF-β signaling within leukocytes is known to have an immunosuppressive role, its immunomodulatory effects within epithelial cells and epithelial cancers is less well understood. Recent data has emerged that suggests TGF-β pathway signaling within epithelial cells may directly modulate pro-inflammatory chemokine/cytokine production and resultant leukocyte recruitment. This immunomodulation by epithelial TGF-β pathway signaling may directly impact tumorigenesis and tumor progression through modulation of the epithelial microenvironment, although causal pathways responsible for such an observation remain incompletely investigated. This review presents the published literature as it relates to the immunomodulatory effects of TGF-β family signaling within intestinal epithelial cells and carcinomas. Full article

The global deaths due to colorectal cancer and diabetes mellitus have increased by 57% and 90%, respectively. The relationship between various cancers and diabetes mellitus has been shown in multiple epidemiological studies. Hence, better management of diabetes mellitus is expected to reduce the risk of various cancers. This review focuses on colorectal cancer and aims to summarize recent findings on the antitumor effects of various oral hypoglycemic drugs on colorectal cancer and their estimated mechanisms. Of the seven classes of oral hypoglycemic agents, only metformin was found to have suppressive effects on colorectal cancer in both clinical and basic research. Clinical and basic researches on suppressing effects of glinides, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, thiazolidinedione, α-glucosidase inhibitors, and sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors against colon carcinogenesis have been insufficient and have not arrived at any conclusion. Therefore, further research regarding these agents is warranted. In addition, the suppressive effects of these agents in healthy subjects without diabetes should also be investigated. Full article

Colorectal cancer is the most preventable form of cancer worldwide. The pathogenesis of colorectal cancer includes gut inflammation, genetic and microbial composition factors. İmpairment of the gut microbiota has been associated with development of colorectal cancer. The genus Bifidobacterium is an important component of the commensal gut microbiota. Bifidobacteria are considered to have important roles in multiple homeostatic functions: immunologic, hormonal and metabolic. Mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT) are components of the immune system involved in protection against infectious pathogens and regulate the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases and, potentially, colorectal cancer. Engagement between Bifidobacterium and MAIT cells could exert a beneficial effect on colorectal cancer prevention and treatment. Full article

The growing international popularity of screening programs for the early detection of pre-cancerous changes or early cancer in the colon has brought to the fore the issue of people with asymptomatic inflammatory bowel disease. What are the legal and clinical responsibilities for endoscopists and managers of screening programs towards such patients? This review assesses the magnitude of the problem and discusses the legal responsibilities, including human rights issues. In addition, it discusses whether such patients who do not have symptoms should be given active treatment. Full article

Objectives: In this review the management of colorectal disease will be investigated as an exemplar of common practice in the UK in an attempt to identify factors responsible for the more general experiences of patients from ethnic minorities. Within this field such populations have a lower uptake of cancer screening programmes and their experience of day-to-day care for chronic gastrointestinal disorders is poor. Study design: PubMed and Google Scholar were reviewed in 2016 to identify publications concerning colorectal screening in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and healthy communities. Methods: Data were extracted from each paper and the references exploded to identify other potential reports. Results: It is reported that barriers exist both at individual and access levels but little has been done to overcome these. There have been a number of suggestions as to how to provide equitable access, but there is a clear need to ensure that these are evidence based and have been tested and shown to be effective in clinical trials. Conclusions: Clearly, current systems of surveillance and screening will only make a difference if they provide effective and acceptable services to all potential clients. Most programmes fail to address the specific risks and anxieties of minority groups, which are thought to be poorly compliant. This review considers those factors that may play a part and suggests approaches that could overcome these deficiencies. Some clues as to these factors may come from work with patients with chronic disorders. Full article

Serum specimens obtained from 680 individuals were examined to measure the amounts of pepsinogens 1 and 2, anti-CagA antibodies, and anti-Helicobacter pylori antibodies. We examined sera obtained from 610 Mongolian individuals living in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar. Seventy serum specimens were collected from Japanese people who were health-screened: These were stored at the gastroenterology laboratory of Jichi Medical University. The sera of the Japanese people were used as a control specimen. Two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits, an E-plate ELISA kit from Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan), and a Biohit ELISA kit from Biohit Oyj (Helsinki, Finland), were used for the detection of anti-H. pylori IgG antibodies in the sera of the 610 Mongolian people. An ELISA kit EIA-4138 from DRG Instruments GmbH (Germany) was used for the detection of anti-CagA IgG antibodies in the serum specimens. Serum pepsinogens were detected by an ELISA kit from Biohit Oyj. Of the 610 serum specimens, 385 specimens tested positive for the detection of anti-H. pylori antibodies using the two ELISA kits, and 47 tested negative. For the detection of anti-H. pylori antibodies by the Biohit ELISA kit, 560 and 50 specimens were positive and negative, respectively. The ratio of serum pepsinogen 1/2 was statistically lower (p < 0.0001) in the H. pylori-positive (560 specimens) than in the H. pylori-negative (50 specimens) specimens. However, the levels of serum pepsinogen 1 had no statistical significance (p = 0.465) between the specimens of the H. pylori-positive and -negative specimens. The ratio of serum pepsinogen 1/2 was 6.74 ± 0.12 in the H. pylori-positive specimens, whereas the ratio of serum pepsinogen 1/2 was 12.69 ± 1.02 in the H. pylori-negative specimens. This study demonstrated the high prevalence of H. pylori infection in Mongolian people, including young generations, and the people infected with H. pylori possessed low pepsinogen 1/2 ratios, indicating atrophic gastritis. The serological examinations by the two ELISA kits did not consistently reflect the prevalence of H. pylori infection in Mongolian people. Full article