Diet and nutrition against inflammatory bowel disease: Trick or treat(ment)?

Even if the relationships between nutrition and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remain underexplored, the current literature is providing, day by day, much more evidence on the effects of various diets in both prevention and treatment of such illnesses. Wrong dietary habits, together with other environmental factors such as pollution, breastfeeding, smoke, and/or antibiotics, are among the theoretical pathogenetic causes of IBD, whose multifactorial aetiology has been already confirmed. While some of these risk factors are potentially reversible, some others cannot be avoided, and efficient treatments become necessary to prevent IBD spread or recurrence. Furthermore, the drugs currently available for treatment of such disease provide low-to-no effect against the symptoms, making the illnesses still strongly disabling. Whether nutrition and specific diets will prove to effectively interrupt the course of IBD has still to be clarified and, in this sense, further research concerning the applications of such dietary interventions is still needed.     

基于苗药五藤膏外敷对CIA大鼠炎性骨破坏的影响探讨苗医外治就近驱邪的作用＊

目的 通过研究明确苗药五藤膏外敷缓解胶原诱导性关节炎（CIA）大鼠关节局部炎症和骨破坏的机制，证实苗医外治就近驱邪的作用。方法 将70只Wistar大鼠随机分为空白组、模型组、苗药五藤膏高、中、低剂量组、扶他林组及IL-17阻断组，每组10只。除空白组外，其余6组均构建CIA模型，并给予相应的外敷治疗。观察大鼠一般情况，HE染色进行病理学分析，TRAP染色检测OC生成，ELISA检测各炎症因子的含量，RT-PCR和WB分别检测RANKL的基因及蛋白表达。结果 苗药五藤膏能改善CIA大鼠破骨细胞浸润及关节病理性结构，并降低RANKL蛋白、基因表达以及TNF-α、IL-1、IL-6、IL-17含量。结论 苗药五藤膏外敷剂对CIA大鼠的治疗机制可能与降低致炎因子的分泌，抑制RANKL及OC的表达相关。     

Recurrent aseptic liver abscesses in a patient with Crohn’s disease: True infection or a Crohn’s flare?

A liver abscess is identified as a rare extraintestinal manifestation of Crohn’s disease, with an incidence of approximately 150 in 100,000 patients with this condition. In many of these patients, infectious causes are identified, and the patient’s condition is often noted to improve with antibiotics. An aseptic abscess (AA) is an increasingly recognized entity, especially in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, where repetitive evaluations to identify the infectious cause are futile. The average age of diagnosis for an AA is 29 years. The most common site is the spleen, followed by the lymph nodes and then the liver. In this study, we present a unique case of extensive aseptic liver abscesses extending into the pleural cavity in a young patient with Crohn’s disease.     

Systemic immune inflammation index in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis

ObjectivesRecurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) a chronic idiopathic oral mucosal disease. But yet the etiology and pathogenesis of RAS are not exactly known, it is thought that inflammation play an important role in the pathogenesis. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the role of systemic inflammation among the possible etiological factors of RAS and to find the possible diagnostic correlation between Systemic Immune Inflammation Index (SII).MethodsPatients who were consulted the otolaryngology outpatient clinic and diagnosed with RAS between 2019–2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratio (PLR) and SII values were calculated based on the results of complete blood count. Demographic and hematological parameters between control and RAS groups were compared. The statistical significance level was considered as <0.05.ResultsThere was no statistically significant difference between the control and RAS groups in terms of sex and age distributions (p = 0.566 and p = 0.173, respectively). SII, NLR and PLR values were significantly higher in the RAS group compared to the controls (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). A very strong correlation between SII and NLR, moderately strong correlation between SII and PLR and moderate correlation between NLR and PLR values were detected (respectively ρ: 0.813, 0.719, 0.532; p-values <0.001).ConclusionSII, NLR and PLR has significantly higher levels in the RAS group compared to the control group, that it supports the role of systemic inflammation in the etiopathogenesis of RAS. In addition, the results show that SII is a valuable marker for inflammation.Level of evidence4.     

A comparison of two Fendrix hepatitis B vaccination schedules in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Systemic immunosuppressive therapy (IS) renders patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) vulnerable to fulminant hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Seroprotection against HBV through a full vaccination scheme is preferably obtained before IS is initiated, but often conflicts with the clinical need to initiate therapy rapidly. Consequently, the vast majority of patients will use IS during booster vaccinations. In this retrospective cohort study, we examined the serological response after a modified vaccination schedule which includes an initial double dose of Fendrix in patients with IBD and compared the results with the serological responses of patients with IBD who received the standard schedule. Seroprotection rates were 86.2 % and 88.9 % in the modified and standard schedule groups respectively. One-third of patients obtained seroprotection after only one double dose vaccine. A double dose may be considered in patients with IBD at high short-term risk of HBV infection when a rapid protective response is warranted.     

刺槐素通过调控TLR4通路对干眼症大鼠的保护作用及其机制研究＊

目的 研究刺槐素对干眼症（DED）大鼠的保护作用及可能的分子机制。方法 60只SD大鼠随机分为空白组（不做处理）；模型组；0.1% SH组；刺槐素0.1%、0.25%、0.5%组。每组10只，除正常组外，每日4次皮下注射12.5 mg/天氢溴酸东莨菪碱（SCOP），共7天。所有的药物均为在眼球表面局部给药，每只眼睛20 μL，每天4次。通过泪液分泌实验检测各组大鼠泪液分泌情况，通过角膜荧光染色检测各组大鼠角膜表面缺损情况，过碘酸雪夫试剂（PAS）染色观察结膜杯状细胞数量，酶联免疫吸附法（ELISA）检测各组大鼠角膜组织中炎症反应和氧化应激相关指标含量。免疫印迹法（Western blot）检测各组大鼠角膜组织中Toll样受体4（TLR4）通路相关蛋白TLR4、髓样分化因子88（MyD88）、核因子κB p65（NF-κB p65）、Pyrin域蛋白3（NLRP3）蛋白表达。结果 与正常组相比，模型组大鼠泪液分泌量、结膜杯状细胞数量明显减少，角膜荧光素染色评分显著升高，但角膜新血管生成评分减少，同时角膜组织中白细胞介素1β（IL-1β）、肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）、IL-10、丙二醛（MDA）水平上调，而超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-Px）含量则下调，TLR4、MyD88、NLRP3、p-NF-κB p65蛋白相对表达量均升高（P<0.05）；与模型组相比，经刺槐素0.25%、0.5%组治疗后，大鼠泪液分泌量、结膜杯状细胞数量明显增加，角膜荧光素染色评分显著降低，角膜新血管生成评分显著增加，同时角膜组织中IL-1β、TNF-α、IL-10、MDA水平下调，而SOD和GSH-Px含量则上调（P<0.05），尤其是刺槐素0.5%组上述指标变化更明显，而且角膜组织中TLR4、MyD88、NLRP3、p-NF-κB p65蛋白相对表达量较模型组显著降低（P<0.05）。结论 刺槐素对干眼症大鼠具有保护作用，其保护机制与抑制干眼症大鼠的氧化应激反应、炎症反应和TLR4/MyD88/NLRP3通路活性有关。     

Immunogenicity and protective efficacy of adenoviral and subunit RSV vaccines based on stabilized prefusion F protein in pre-clinical models

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) remains a leading cause of severe respiratory disease for which no licensed vaccine is available. We have previously described the derivation of an RSV Fusion protein (F) stabilized in its prefusion conformation (preF) as vaccine immunogen and demonstrated superior immunogenicity in naive mice of preF versus wild type RSV F protein, both as protein and when expressed from an Ad26 vaccine vector. Here we address the question if there are qualitative differences between the two vaccine platforms for induction of protective immunity. In naïve mice, both Ad26.RSV.preF and preF protein induced humoral responses, whereas cellular responses were only elicited by Ad26.RSV.preF. In RSV pre-exposed mice, a single dose of either vaccine induced cellular responses and strong humoral responses. Ad26-induced RSV-specific cellular immune responses were detected systemically and locally in the lungs. Both vaccines showed protective efficacy in the cotton rat model, but Ad26.RSV.preF conferred protection at lower virus neutralizing titers in comparison to RSV preF protein. Factors that may contribute to the protective capacity of Ad26.RSV.preF elicited immunity are the induced IgG2a antibodies that are able to engage Fcγ receptors mediating Antibody Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (ADCC), and the induction of systemic and lung resident RSV specific CD8 + T cells. These data demonstrate qualitative improvement of immune responses elicited by an adenoviral vector based vaccine encoding the RSV preF antigen compared to the subunit vaccine in small animal models which may inform RSV vaccine development.