August Colitis Research News – FMT, Disability, Infliximab, Vedolizumab

Hey UC’ers,

Here’s a brief update of a select few stories/research documents that have been published recently.  As you’ll see below, the topics vary quite a bit, but are all centered around Inflammatory Bowel Disease and specifically Ulcerative Colitis which is what we/I are/am most interested in right? :)

I hope some of these you learn from and find interesting.  Nothing wrong with being up to date on the colitis news, and AS ALWAYS, feel free to share with your gastro doctor(s).

• Improvement Following a Single Fecal Transplant – Results and Brief Conclusion
  • What I found interesting:  “changes in transplant frequency or method might improve microbiota engraftment and efficacy”

• IBD Related Work Disability
  • Abstract to give you an idea of the study details:

    “Data on the prevalence of work disability in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are heterogeneous. As most studies have been performed in selected, often severe, IBD patients, the true prevalence of disability in the community remains controversial. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the prevalence and severity of disability and its predictive factors in a community-based IBD population.”

  • To email Dr. Calet who was one of the heads of his study, you can do so here: xcalvet@tauli.cat

• Remicade and C-Reactive Protein — At Week 2 You May Be Able to Predict Infliximab Effectiveness
  • How many times does a UC’er need to ask their doctor the question, “When is the medication going to start to work right????”
  • Some of the study results are as follows:
    • Response, partial response and no response rates were 40.3, 33.3, and 26.4 %, respectively. CRP level at week 2 in responders was significantly lower vs partial-responders (P = 0.0135) or non-responders (P = 0.0084) in spite of similar trough IFX level.
  • This study gives some insight into a potential answer to this question regarding Remicade/Infliximab
  • If you are taking Remicade in the early stages, print this and bring the study to your doctor, they might have some additional input for you
  • Below is an image from the study which details some of the patient results
  • 
  • Dr. Suzuki, one of the researchers from this study in Japan can be contacted here: yasuo-suzuki@sakura.med.toho-u.ac.jp
  • [ilink url=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4535387/” title=”c-reactive protein in colitis study results week 2″]Full C-Reactive Protein Study Results[/ilink]

• Successful Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis With Vedolizumab in a Patient With an Infliximab-Associated Psoriasiform Rash

  • This particualar article is rather specialized, but for those of you who are wondering if anybody has had relief from the Anti-TNF often “related” skin lessions…it looks like this study documents at least one UC’er who has had some benefits from Vedolizumab.
  • Abstract:  Psoriatic skin lesions associated with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents are well-described in the medical literature. However, the etiology and optimal management of this condition remain unclear. Vedolizumab is a novel, gut-specific, anti-integrin agent used for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We report a case of infliximab-associated psoriasiform lesions in an ulcerative colitis patient. Transition to vedolizumab resulted in resolution of the cutaneous lesions without recurrence and remission of his ulcerative colitis.  [ilink url=”http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4508952/” title=”Success with Vedolizumab”]Read the Whole Study Now[/ilink]

Ok, that’s the short version of some of the studies in the ulcerative colitis world as of late.

Wishing you all a great rest of August 2015!

Best regards,

Adam Scheuer

founder of iHaveUC

**To learn more about the news/studies, I’d once again encourage you to watch my video teaching how to use PubMed which is where all these studies are listed.

That link is here:

https://www.ihaveuc.com/learn-how-to-use-pubmed-for-free-its-amazingly-easy/