Publications by authors named "B J Schwender"
Article Synopsis
- Thiopurines are commonly used for treating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) but can cause significant variability in patient responses and side effects due to genetic differences.
- A study involving 149 multiethnic Asian IBD patients identified two FTO gene variants, revealing that one variant (rs16952570) showed differing prevalence among ethnic groups and was linked to better white blood cell counts in patients after starting thiopurine therapy.
- The research suggests that the FTO variant rs16952570 CC genotype may provide a protective effect on blood cell levels in patients undergoing thiopurine treatment, highlighting the importance of genetic testing in personalized medicine for IBD.
Recent advancement in the understanding of the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease has seen an expansion in therapeutic options. Vedolizumab, a selective α4β7 inhibitor, and ustekinumab, an IL 12/23 p40 inhibitor, have provided the much-awaited out-of-class alternatives for patients who have failed or who are intolerant to anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) therapy. However, questions remain as to how we may best use these novel therapeutic agents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Genetic variants of TPMT and NUDT15 have been reported to predict the inter-patient variability in response and toxicity profiles of patients receiving thiopurine therapy. However, the clinical utility of TPMT genotyping in guiding thiopurine doses has been questionable, in part due to underlying differences in the prevalence of TPMT variants in both Caucasian and Asian populations. Several NUDT15 variants have been associated with thiopurine-induced leukopenia, particularly in Asian cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Intra-abdominal fungal infections (AFIs) complicating acute pancreatitis arise in the context of pancreatic necrosis. Our goal was to determine which risk factors contribute to AFI in patients with acute pancreatitis.
Methods: Records were reviewed from 479 nontransfer patients admitted to our medical center with acute pancreatitis from 1985 to 2009.