The Contribution of CD40/CD40L Axis in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An Update.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic and multifactorial disease of the gastrointestinal tract. The exact etiology of IBD remains complex and unclear involving an inadequately defined relationship between microbial insult, genetic predisposition, altered intestinal barrier permeability, oxidative stress components and abnormal immune responses. The role of the co-stimulatory system made up of cluster of differentiation 40 protein (CD40) and its ligand (CD40L) in the response of the immune system to pathogens is now widely accepted.

LDL-cholesterol and insulin are independently associated with body mass index in adult cystic fibrosis patients.

Background: The median life expectancy of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients has increased dramatically over the last few years and we now observe a subset of patients with a body mass index (BMI) exceeding 25 kg/m(2). The aim of this study was to characterize these individuals and to identify factors associated with higher BMI.

Methods: This is a cross sectional study including 187 adult CF subjects.