IBD

Innovations improve the lives of patients with IBD

Two recent innovations — point-of-care intestinal ultrasound and functional medicine — are improving the lives of patients at the Vanderbilt Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks.

Research by Christopher Peek, PhD, left, Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, and their colleagues reveals how gut inflammation leads to bone loss.

Vanderbilt researchers discover how gut inflammation leads to bone loss

Gastrointestinal inflammation, such as occurs in inflammatory bowel disease, triggers the expansion of a population of “bone-eating” cells, leading to bone loss.

Probiotic protection

A probiotic factor given early in life to mice prevented intestinal inflammation in adulthood, providing a rationale for probiotic intervention in individuals at high risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease.

Jennifer Pilat, left, Sarah Short, PhD, Christopher Williams, MD, PhD, and colleagues are studying a biomarker for assessing disease severity and cancer risk in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Potential biomarker for IBD severity, cancer risk identified

A selenium transport protein produced in the colon may be a novel biomarker for assessing disease severity and cancer risk in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Novel insights on “leaky” gut

A protein involved in binding cells together helps maintain the integrity of the intestinal mucosa and plays a protective role in ulcerative colitis.