Dysregulated immune response is crucial for the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.Recent studies suggested that imbalance among Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells was closely related to the aberrant intestinal immune response.Aims: To investigate the association of imbalance among Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells and Crohn''s disease (CD).Methods: Thirty-six CD patients admitted from Jan.2013 to Dec.2014 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were enrolled;40 patients undergoing intestinal polypectomy were collected as controls.Inflamed and normal mucosal tissues were obtained from CD patients and the controls, respectively;expressions of Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells related transcriptional factors (T-bet, GATA-3 and RORγt) and cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-17A) were determined by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry.Results: In comparison with the controls, mRNA expression of T-bet and RORγt, mRNA and protein expressions of IFN-γ and IL-17A, as well as the ratios for T-bet/GATA-3 and RORγt/GATA-3, which represented balance of Th1/Th2 and Th17/Th2, respectively, were all significantly increased in inflamed mucosal tissue in CD patients (P<0.05).Expression of each of the three transcriptional factors was positively correlated with its corresponding cytokine (P<0.05).IFN-γ+ and IL-17A+ cells mainly located in the intestinal epithelial layer and lamina propria with cytoplasmic immunoreactivities in CD patients.In the stratified analysis, all the above-mentioned parameters were significantly higher in active CD than in inactive CD (P<0.05);furthermore, the ratio for RORγt/T-bet, which represented balance of Th17/Th1, was also increased significantly in active CD (P<0.05).Conclusions: Imbalance among Th1, Th2 and Th17 cells in intestinal mucosal tissue was closely related with CD.Polarization of Th1 and Th17 cells are involved in this process, and Th17 polarization is predominant in active disease.

DNA copy number variation is an important pathogenic factor of human diseases and might be involved in the pathogenesis and pathological process of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Aims: To investigate the copy number variation of CNTNAP3 gene and its significance in Crohn''s disease (CD).Methods: A total of 101 active CD patients admitted from Jul.2009 to Dec.2010 at Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University were enrolled.Eighty healthy subjects were served as controls.Peripheral blood or intestinal mucosa samples of CD patients were collected, and the copy number variation of CNTNAP3 gene was screened and validated by array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH, n=8) and real-time PCR (n=93);expression of CNTNAP3 encoding protein was determined by ELISA (n=55).Results: A large fragment copy number amplification was revealed by aCGH at chromosome 9p13 region (including CNTNAP3 gene) in untreated CD patients.Real-time PCR confirmed that the copy number of CNTNAP3 gene was amplified in peripheral blood of CD patients, especially steroid-naive patients as compared with the normal controls (208 616.4±126 984.7 and 233 453.3±113 520.8 vs.161 750.2 ±53 940.3, P<0.05 and P<0.01).In the clinical parameters analyzed in this study, only smoking was significantly correlated with CNTNAP3 copy number amplification (P<0.05).However, there was no significant difference in plasma CNTNAP3 level between CD patients with amplified copy number and normal controls (P>0.05).Furthermore, the plasma CNTNAP3 level in CD patients with amplified copy number was not correlated with the simplified endoscopic score for CD (P>0.05).Conclusions: Copy number amplification of CNTNAP3 gene might be involved in the pathogenesis of CD in Chinese population.Glucocorticoid treatment and smoking might affect the copy number variation of CNTNAP3 gene.Plasma CNTNAP3 level cannot discriminate CD patients from healthy subjects.Conclusions of this study needs to be further demonstrated and discussed.

The Fifth Chinese National Consensus Report on Management of Helicobacter pylori Infection has been published.Contents of the consensus consist of six parts, including indications for Helicobacter pylori eradication, diagnosis, treatment, Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori infection in special populations, Helicobacter pylori and gastrointestinal microbiota.Most of the contents are understandable, and this paper mainly explains 7 controversial issues.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common gastrointestinal malignancies with poor prognosis and high mortality.SEPT9 gene is a tumor suppressor gene and plays an important role in the end of cell division.Studies have shown that methylation of SEPT9 gene could be used in the early diagnosis of CRC.This article reviewed the advances in study on SEPT9 gene methylation in the screening and diagnosis of CRC.

Blue laser imaging (BLI) is a new endoscopic system equipped with the laser beam emitting two different wavelengths.It produces bright and high resolution images for observation of microvascular and microsurface patterns of esophageal and gastric mucosa, helping the diagnosis of early upper gastrointestinal cancer.Compared with the existed endoscopic techniques, BLI shows its unique advantages.In this article, advances in application of BLI in diagnosis of early upper gastrointestinal cancer were reviewed.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of intestinal chronic non-specific inflammatory disease with unknown etiology, and includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn''s disease (CD).Studies have indicated that environmental factor, genetic factor, disorder of immunity are associated with the pathogenesis of IBD.More and more basic and clinical studies focus on treatment with helminths in IBD.The accumulated evidences have shown that helminths infection has beneficial effects on the alleviation of IBD and is relatively safe.This article reviewed the advances in study on helminths in the treatment of IBD.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic, non-specific inflammatory intestinal diseases.Patients with IBD predispose to the development of colitis-associated colon cancer (CACC).Homocysteine is an important intermediate metabolite in methionine cycle, increased level of homocysteine is closely correlated with the development and progression of IBD and CACC.This paper reviewed the advances in study on correlation of homocysteine with IBD and CACC.

The prevalence of functional constipation (FC) is increased in elderly population, and seeking for a simple, safe and effective treatment modality is of great importance.Aims: To assess the clinical efficacy and safety of abdominal acupoint massage in elderly FC patients.Methods: A total of 151 elderly patients with FC were enrolled and randomly assigned into three groups: group A was treated with bisacodyl 5 mg once a day orally, group B with massage on Guanyuan, Zhongwan and Tianshu acupoints three times a day and group C with their combination.The treatment course was 4 weeks.The stool frequency per week was recorded, and the Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms scale (PAC-SYM) was scored.Results: The baseline data were comparable among the three groups (P>0.05).When compared with those before treatment, there was an increase in stool frequency per week and decrease in overall and dimensional scores of PAC-SYM at 1, 2, and 4 weeks after the beginning of treatment in all the three groups (P<0.05).Bisacodyl was superior to acupoint massage for improving stool frequency, consistency and rectal symptoms (P<0.05), while acupoint massage was superior to bisacodyl for alleviating abdominal symptoms (P<0.05).Mild adverse effects were recorded in patients receiving oral bisacodyl, and no adverse effects were observed in patients receiving acupoint massage.Conclusions: Abdominal acupoint massage is safe and effective for improving stool frequency and constipation-associated symptoms especially abdominal symptoms such as abdominal pain and distention in elderly FC patients.

Studies have shown that microRNA plays a role of oncogene or tumor suppressor gene in the carcinogenesis and progression of tumor.However, the role of microRNA-143 (miR-143) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) needs further study.Aims: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of miR-143 in ESCC.Methods: Sixty-three ESCC tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues, 40 esophageal intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN) tissues and corresponding normal tissues from Jan.2013 to Dec.2013 at the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University were enrolled.The expression of miR-143 was examined by real-time quantitative PCR, and its correlations with clinicopathological features were analyzed.Results: Compared with controls, expression of miR-143 was down-regulated in ESCC and IEN (P<0.05).Expression of miR-143 was correlated with pathological type (P<0.001), but not with gender and age (P>0.05).Expression of miR-143 was correlated with pathological staging, lymph node metastasis and TNM staging (P<0.05), but not correlated with tumor infiltration depth in ESCC patients (P>0.05).Conclusions: Expression of miR-143 is down-regulated in ESCC and IEN tissues, which may be closely related to the development and progression of ESCC, and has the potential to be used as a new target for diagnosis of ESCC.

In recent years, the eradication rate of standard triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection has been reduced to less than 80% because of many factors, such as strain variation, drug resistance and cross infection of different strains.As more and more cases with failure of initial eradication therapy, the focus of clinical practice is to explore new alternative rescue therapies.Aims: To assess the efficacy and safety of Saccharomyces boulardii combined with moxifloxacin-based triple regimen for rescue therapy of Hp infection.Methods: A total of 400 patients with chronic gastritis who had failed initial bismuth quadruple therapy were enrolled and randomly assigned into two groups: 200 cases of control group and 200 cases of test group.Patients in control group received a rescue triple therapy (esomeprazole, amoxicillin and moxifloxacin) for 14 days and those in test group with the further addition of Saccharomyces boulardii sachets.Hp eradication was assessed by 13C/14C-urea breath test four weeks after treatment, and the adverse events during treatment course were observed.Results: The Hp eradication rates in control group and test group were 80.1% (121/151) and 90.4% (142/157) by per-protocol (PP) analysis, respectively, and 60.5% (121/200) and 71.0% (142/200) by intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, respectively.The eradication rate in test group was significantly higher than that in control group by both PP and ITT analyses (P<0.05).The incidence rate of adverse events was significantly lower in test group than in control group (9.6% vs.17.9%, P<0.05).Conclusions: Saccharomyces boulardii added to moxifloxacin-based rescue triple therapy could increase the eradication rate of Hp infection with less adverse events.