Combating Immune Cell Attacks

For those patients whose ulcerative colitis is unmanageable, a surgical procedure called a restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis may be performed. The J-pouch procedure involves a pouch being constructed from healthy tissue from the small intestine, which replaces the section of the colon that is damaged. However, the procedure may lead to a common complication, pouchitis, or inflammation of the pouch. Researchers discovered that “some immune cells attacking the colon in ulcerative colitis are the same types attacking the J-pouch. Several varieties of immune cells were found swarming both organs in numbers as high as five times those seen in healthy tissue.”

Jordan Axelrad, MD, MPH, co-lead author of the study, commented, “Our findings suggest that since ulcerative colitis and pouchitis are biologically similar, they may be treated by the same drugs, even though the diseases originate in different parts of the gut.” Axelrad, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health, continued, “With our newfound understanding of pouchitis, we can also begin to uncover why some people develop it in the first place and how to prevent it.”

 

Read the full press release on Newswise.

Access the article.

 

Other Categories:

• inflammatory bowel disease