Abstract
Attracting more than 13,000 researchers and clinicians, UEG Week 2015 in Barcelona was immensely popular and provided plenty of exciting new data to discuss and inspire!
Among the most innovative new data were colonoscopic perforation outcomes following endoscopic procedures in the largest European case series, how a novel method for studying pancreatic phenotypes of cystic fibrosis in vitro can help tailor drug screening, and the role of somatic mutations in Toll-like receptor 4 signalling alterations in oesophageal cancer. There was also the finding that maintenance treatment with ozanimod (a sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator) increases the likelihood of clinical remission versus placebo in moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, and the discovery that segment length, low-grade dysplasia and age at diagnosis are predictive of progression to cancer in Barrett’s oesophagus.
There was promising news for patients with inflammatory bowel disease: for the first time, the anti-interleukin-12 antibody, ustekinumab, was shown to benefit those with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease failing conventional (not just anti-TNF-α) therapy. Results for another monoclonal antibody, vedolizumab, demonstrated the benefits of treatment for refractory disease in a real-life setting.
New therapeutic options in neurogastroenterology and motility – areas that affect many patients but with few available treatments – also appear promising. Symptomatic benefits were demonstrated for the selective 5-hydroxytryptamine4 receptor agonist prucalopride, and the peripherally-acting mu-opioid receptor antagonist, naloxegol.
There was fascinating new evidence of a beneficial effect of a probiotic on comorbid depression and brain emotional reactivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Specific microbes also appear to benefit patients with ulcerative colitis: certain bacterial signatures present after faecal microbiota transplantation are linked to a sustained response to treatment.
To read more about UEG Week 2015 and its many scientific highlights access the Post Congress Report on http://www.ueg.eu/UEGWeek.2015.PostCongressNews/!