Increased Colonic Expression of ACE2 Associates with Poor Prognosis in Crohn's disease.

Background And Aims: The host receptor for SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is highly expressed in small intestine. Our aim was to study colonic ACE2 expression in Crohn's disease (CD) and non-inflammatory bowel disease (non-IBD) controls. We hypothesized that the colonic expression levels of ACE2 impacts CD course.

Chronic Antibiotic Dependent Pouchitis Is Associated With Older Age at the Time of Ileal Pouch Anal Anastomosis (J-pouch) Surgery.

Background: Risk factors for the development of chronic antibiotic dependent pouchitis (CADP) are not well understood.

Methods: Using multivariable logistic regression, we compared clinical factors between 194 patients with acute antibiotic responsive pouchitis or CADP.

Results: Individuals with CADP were significantly older (40.

Hepatic progenitor cell resistance to TGF-beta1's proliferative and apoptotic effects.

The success of hepatocellular therapies using stem or progenitor cell populations is dependent upon multiple factors including the donor cell, microenvironment, and etiology of the liver injury. The following experiments investigated the impact of TGF-beta1 on a previously described population of hepatic progenitor cells (HPC). The majority of the hepatic progenitor cells were resistant to endogenously produced TGF-beta1's proapoptotic and anti-proliferative effects unlike more well-differentiated cellular populations (e.