Gut health study results shared with participants
AFTER giving tissue and blood samples, filling out questionnaires and participating in research studies, patients from across the South got to see what has become of their contributions.
About 50 people gathered at the University of Otago for the Gut Health Network forum on Saturday, which brought celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer patients together with microbiology, immunology, surgical and gastroenterology researchers.
University of Otago gastroenterologist Prof Michael Schultz said the day was all about giving back to the patients who had helped them with their research.
‘‘We’re feeding back to them what this research was all about, what it aims for and what the results were.
‘‘There are several studies, but one of them is looking for a noninvasive method for diagnosing celiac disease, so maybe in the future we don’t need to take biopsies any more.
‘‘That study is quite advanced and is having very good results.’’
University of Otago immunology researcher Prof Ros Kemp said another study involved taking a small tissue sample from the large intestine and scientists used it to replicate a ‘‘minigut’’ in the laboratory, which could be used to mimic a disease that they were studying.
She said their research showed every person was very different and their studies aimed to use people’s immune system to tailor their treatment or decide which treatment to have.
‘‘What we do have is a lot of really effective treatments.
‘‘What we don’t have is a really good way to work out who’s going to respond to those treatments.
‘‘So the idea is that if we can work out who is going to respond to what before we treat them, then we can just go straight to the one that will work and we won’t have to put them through these longterm trial and error approaches.’’
Prof Schultz said recent research suggested the interaction of the bowel microflora with the intestinal immune system on a specific genetic background played a much more significant role in a variety of diseases than previously thought.
Not only inflammatory bowel diseases, but also cancer, certain rheumatological disorders, diabetes, obesity and potentially many other diseases might have their origins in the gut.
He said the Gut Health Network was a platform to promote information sharing, discussion and collaboration among those involved in the field, making it a ‘‘truly benchtobedside approach’’.