Novartis Foundation Symposium 263 - Inflammatory Bowel Disease - Crossroads Of Microbes, Epithelium And Immune Systems

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) comprises a group of idiopathic diseases of the intestine characterized by chronic inflammation of the bowel with periods of exacerbation and remission. Although the exact cause of IBD remains undetermined, the condition appears to be related to a combination of genetic and environmental factors resulting in an aberrant activation of the mucosal immune system. This book contains a series of interdisciplinary discussions between clinical and basic scientists focusing on key issues such as:

• Epithelial cell and molecular biology, including apoptosis, necrosis and cell survival
• The role of bacterial milieu and mucosal bacteria in the IBD and of prebiotic and probiotic therapy
• The progress towards the identification of susceptibility genes and phenotype-determining genes
• The pharmacogenetics of IBD
• Mucosal immunology and therapeutic strategies stemming therefrom

Chair's Introduction (Jewell).

Progress toward identifying inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility genes (Rioux).

Phenotype-determining genes in inflammatory bowel disease (Ahmad).

Pharmacogenetics of inflammatory bowel disease (Kelleher et al).

Bacterial milieu and mucosal bacteria in ulcerative colitis (Macfarlane et al).

Defensins and mucosal protection (Mahid and Cunliffe).

Intestinal mycoplasma in Crohn's Disease (Roediger).

Kong Probiotics, prebiotics and antibiotics in inflammatory bowel disease (Cummings and Choon).

The eipthelium in inflammatory bowel disease: potential role of endocytosis of junctional proteins in barrier disruption (Ivanov et al).

Apoptosis or necrosis - colonic epithelial cell survival (Gibson).

Genetic aspects of intestinal permeability in inflammatory bowel disease (Takeuchi et al).

Animal models of intestinal inflammation: clues to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (Powrie and Uhlig).

Homing of intestinal immune cells (Uhlig et al).

Anti-TNF therapy in Crohn's Disease (Ghosh).

Index of contributors.

Subject index.