Bowel
Incidence of colorectal cancer in younger adults:
A nationwide cohort study from Denmark indicates that therapy with TNF inhibitors is not associated with increased risk of serious infections requiring hospitalizations.
BRAF inhibition in colorectal cancer:
A combination therapy of the BRAF inhibitors encorafenib and binimetinib plus cetuximab results in significantly longer overall survival and a higher response rate than standard therapy in patients with BRAF V600E-mutated metastatic colorectal cancer.
Risk of serious infections in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease patients:
A nationwide cohort study from Denmark indicates that therapy with TNF inhibitors is not associated with increased risk of serious infections requiring hospitalizations
Liver
Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC):
A retrospective cohort study indicates that the addition of bezafibrate to ursodeoxycholic acid monotherapy improves not only GLOBE and UK-PBC scores but also the long-term prognosis. Of note, this benefit is most prominent in those patients with early-stage PBC.
Novel therapeutic strategy in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH):
Resmetirom is a liver-directed, orally active, selective thyroid hormone receptor-β agonist designed to improve NASH by increasing hepatic fat metabolism and reducing lipotoxicity. Indeed, a current phase 2 trial demonstrates substantial reduction of hepatic fat after 12 and 36 weeks of treatment with resmetirom.
Cancer risk and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD):
A current longitudinal cohort study demonstrates that NAFLD, but not obesity alone, is associated with an increased cancer risk, particularity of gastrointestinal types. These data suggest that NAFLD may be a mediator of the obesity-cancer association.
Oesophagus Stomach Duodenum
Neurologic deficits in patients with newly diagnosed celiac disease:
Neurologic deficits were common in a prospective cohort study of patients with a new diagnosis of celiac disease and were associated with antibodies directed against transglutaminase 6. Presence of these antibodies was linked with atrophy of specific brain regions.
Soft drink consumption and mortality:
A large European cohort study found that consumption of sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened soft drinks is positively associated with all-cause mortality.
Nivolumab versus chemotherapy in patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma refractory or intolerant to previous chemotherapy:
Results of a phase 3 trial indicate that nivolumab is associated with a significant improvement in overall survival and a favorable safety profile as compared to chemotherapy with paclitaxel or docetaxel.
Pancreas
Pancreatic cancer:
Globally, the numbers of deaths and incident cases have more than doubled between 1990 and 2017 and will increase further. Development of screening programs and preventive strategies to control risk factors such as smoking, high plasma glucose as well as high body mass index are urgently needed.
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