In a world-first, QIMR Berghofer scientists have discovered the mechanism that causes severe inflammation among millions of people with chronic liver disease.
Published in Science Signaling, the discovery identifies how and why elevated ferritin (a protein that normally stores iron within cells) causes inflammation which ultimately leads to liver dysfunction including cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure if left untreated.
Professor Grant Ramm, Deputy Director of QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and head of the Hepatic Fibrosis Laboratory, said this finding could pave the way for new targeted therapeutics to treat both inherited and acquired liver disease.
"The association between inflammation and circulating ferritin levels in chronic liver disease is well known. However, rather than simply acting as a passive marker of inflammation, our research has demonstrated that tissue-derived ferritin stimulates a cascade of events at a cellular level, accelerating liver inflammation," said Professor Ramm.
"Inflammation is integral in driving early liver scarring, known as fibrosis. If undiagnosed or untreated, scarring can increase over time, severely impacting liver function.
A study conducted at the University of Gothenburg found that with dietary adjustments, more than 7 out of 10 irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients had significantly reduced symptoms, compared with medications. The work is published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology journal.
IBS is a common diagnosis that causes abdominal pain, gas and abdominal bloating, diarrhea, and constipation, in various combinations and with varying degrees of severity.
Treatment often consists of dietary advice such as eating small and frequent meals and avoiding excessive intake of food triggers such as coffee, alcohol and fizzy drinks. Patients may also be given medications to improve specific symptoms, such as gas or constipation, diarrhea, bloating or abdominal pain. Antidepressants are sometimes used to improve symptoms in IBS.
The study compared three treatments: two dietary and one based on use of medications. The participants were adult patients with severe or moderate IBS symptoms at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg.
A team of chemical and biological engineers at Seoul National University in the Republic of Korea has developed a proof-of-concept device that could one day lead to the creation of an artificial nose.
In their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the group combined several types of technology to build a device capable of detecting short-chain fatty acids in air samples.
Bowel disease breakthrough as researchers make ‘holy grail’ discovery
Wed 5 Jun 2024 16.00 BST
Researchers have discovered a major driver of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and several other immune disorders that affect the spine, liver and arteries, raising hopes for millions of people worldwide.
The breakthrough is particularly exciting because the newly found biological pathway can be targeted by drugs that are already used, with work under way to adapt them to patients with IBD and other conditions.
“What we have found is one of the very central pathways that goes wrong when people get inflammatory bowel disease and this has been something of a holy grail,” said Dr James Lee, the group leader of the genetic mechanisms of disease laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London.
Lee added: “Even for pure, fundamental immunology this is a really exciting discovery. But to show this is dysregulated in people who get disease not only gives us a better understanding of the disease, it tells us this is something we can treat.”
More than half a million people in the UK have inflammatory bowel disease, the two main forms of which are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, with at least 7 million affected globally. They arise when the immune system attacks the bowel, causing an array of debilitating symptoms from abdominal pain and weight loss to diarrhoea and blood in stools. While medicines such as steroids can ease the symptoms, some patients require surgery to remove part of their bowel.
