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Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Advances in pathogenesis and treatment research

Guest Editors:
Lorenzo Bertani: University of Pisa, Italy
Gaetano Gallo: Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Vishal Sharma: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, India


BMC Gastroenterology welcomed submissions to our Collection on Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Advances in pathogenesis and treatment research.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease affects an increasing number of patients, with around 7 million people globally suffering from Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. As the incidence continues to rise, especially in developing countries, scientists and clinicians combine efforts to improve the prognosis and quality of life of those affected.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Lorenzo Bertani: University of Pisa, Italy
Lorenzo Bertani is a Gastroenterologist in the Department of General Surgery of Tuscany North West ASL in Pontedera, Italy. He has obtained a PhD in Clinical and Translational Sciences at Pisa University, with a PhD project focused on the identification of reliable biomarkers of therapeutic response to biological therapies in inflammatory bowel diseases. Indeed, his main research interest are inflammatory diseases, but he even performed several studies evaluating nutritional management of gastrointestinal diseases, with particular regard for functional disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. He published 58 papers in peer-reviewed journals indexed in Scopus, with more than 1000 citations and an H-index of 18. He obtained the National Scientific Qualification for Associate Professor in 2021. He is member of Italian Society of Gastroenterology and Epatology  (SIGE), Italian Group for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IG-IBD), European Crohn and Colitis Organization (ECCO).


Gaetano Gallo: Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Gaetano Gallo is Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgical Sciences at “La Sapienza” University of Roma, Roma, Italy. He has a clinical and academic interest in Proctology (Haemorrhoidal Disease, Perianal and Rectovaginal Fistulas, Rectal Prolapse), Functional and Pelvic Floor Disorders, IBD and Microbiome and Colorectal Cancer. He has written more than 250 articles, including several national and international guidelines on colorectal diseases (Haemorrhoidal Disease, Rectal Prolapse, Appendicitis). He is an Executive Member of the Italian Society of Colorectal Surgery (SICCR) and is currently a member of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) Guidelines and Cohort Studies Committees. He is member of several Editorial Board such as Surgery, Colorectal Disease, Techniques in Coloproctology and for many Journals of BMC Series.

Vishal Sharma: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, India
Vishal Sharma MD, DM is an associate professor of clinical gastroenterology at the prestigious Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. His areas of expertise include luminal gastroenterology, and his research is focused on inflammatory bowel disease and gastrointestinal tuberculosis. He has made significant contributions in early discrimination of gastrointestinal tuberculosis from Crohn’s disease, elucidating treatment responses in gastrointestinal tuberculosis, and improving the care of inflammatory bowel disease in resource-limited settings.  

About the collection

BMC Gastroenterology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Advances in pathogenesis and treatment research.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease affects an increasing number of patients, with around 7 million people globally suffering from Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. As the incidence continues to rise, especially in developing countries, scientists and clinicians combine efforts to improve the prognosis and quality of life of those affected.

Research in the past years has seen pivotal advances in treatment strategies, including the use of biologics in personalised approaches. Emerging evidence points to a promising role of small molecules in therapy. Recent studies have also emphasised the role of the microbiome in the development of IBD as well as use of microbial modulation in treatment. While more and more evidence is being uncovered regarding the development of UC and CD, many factors contributing to the pathophysiology remain elusive.

We are launching a Collection on these debilitating chronic diseases to collate new advances in the field and to comprehensively review current developments in IBD research.

We are particularly interested in research on the pathogenesis of IBD as well as in studies describing new treatment strategies. We consider both basic and clinical research but strongly encourage authors to submit their experimental work to our collection. We are also interested in high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses in this field.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Pathophysiology and basic research of IBD
  • Genetic susceptibility and environmental factors 
  • Surgical and non-surgical treatment strategies
  • Precision medicine in IBD
  • Novel and emerging drug therapies
  • Role of microbiome and mycobiome
  • Biomarkers and diagnostic approaches, non-invasive monitoring
  • Nutrition and diet in causation and as a therapy 
  • Epidemiology of IBD and new regions 
  • Pediatric IBD
  • Complications of inflammatory bowel disease
  • IBD mimics, extraintestinal manifestations and impact of and on comorbidities 
  • Current and future therapeutic targets  

Image credit: sdecoret/Adobe Stock

  2. Fatigue is prevalent in people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and has been associated with IBD activity, sleep quality, depression, and anxiety. This study aimed to identify fatigue profiles or clusters...

    Authors: Alex Barnes, Barbara Toson, R. V. Bryant, Sutapa Mukherjee, Jane M. Andrews, Paul Spizzo and Réme Mountifield
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:148
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT).It results in progressive intestinal epithelium structural and functional damage that necessita...

    Authors: Ayman Menesy, Mohamed Hammad, Salah Aref and Fatma Adel Mourad Abozeid
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:135
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) imposes a huge burden on the healthcare systems and greatly declines the patient’s quality of life. However, there is a paucity of detailed data regarding information and suppo...

    Authors: Narges Norouzkhani, Mahbobeh Faramarzi, Ali Bahari, Javad Shokri Shirvani, Saeid Eslami and Hamed Tabesh
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:134
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), is a chronic relapsing-remitting systemic disease of the gastrointestinal tract with rising incidence. Studies have...

    Authors: Amir Hossein Behnoush, Seyede Parmis Maroufi, Tara Reshadmanesh, Yasmin Mohtasham Kia, Mitra Norouzi, Seyedeh Mina Mohammadi, Aleksandra Klisic and Amirmohammad Khalaji
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:107
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Approximately 10-15% of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients with overlapping features of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are termed as inflammatory bowel disease unclassified (IBDU). Thi...

    Authors: Yupei Shao, Yixiao Zhao, Hong Lv, Pengguang Yan, Hong Yang, Jingnan Li, Ji Li and Jiaming Qian
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:105
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Sarcopenia and anemia are common complications in patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD). However, few studies have shown the association between sarcopenia and hemoglobin levels in CD patients. This retrospective...

    Authors: Nandong Hu, Jingjing Liu, Xifa Gao, Hongye Tang, Jiangchuan Wang, Zicheng Wei, Zhongqiu Wang, Xiaoli Yu and Xiao Chen
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:95
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:130

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:115

  9. A number of observational studies indicate that insomnia is linked to inflammatory digestive diseases (IDDs). However, the definite relationship between insomnia and IDDs remains unclear.

    Authors: Lei Dai, Yunyan Ye, Joseph Mugaanyi, Caide Lu and Changjiang Lu
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:79
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory disease that targets the colon and has seen an increasing prevalence worldwide. In our pursuit of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for UC, we undertoo...

    Authors: Yuefei Wen, Chenyang Li, Peng Huang, Zhigang Liu, Yanjun He and Bin Liu
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:60
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. Perianal disease occurs in up to 34% of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. An estimated 25% of women will become pregnant after the initial diagnosis, thus introducing the dilemma of whether mode of de...

    Authors: Ana M. Otero-Piñerio, N. Aykun, M. Maspero, Stefan Holubar, Tracy Hull, Jeremy Lipman, Scott R. Steele and Amy L. Lightner
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:34
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. The prevalence of ulcerative colitis (UC) has been increasing, also in older adults. Here, we retrospectively compared the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus (TAC) in older and younger patients with UC.

    Authors: Ayumi Ito, Syun Murasugi, Teppei Omori, Shinichi Nakamura and Katsutoshi Tokushige
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:22
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. The development and implementation of the transition from pediatric to adult healthcare systems for adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) should consider stakeholders’ perceptions. This study aimed...

    Authors: Mi Zhou, Youjun Xu and Yunxian Zhou
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:445
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. T cell transfer colitis model is often used to study the CD4+ T cell functions in the intestine. However, the specific roles of macrophages in colitis remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the pheno...

    Authors: Shin Ebihara, Toshiki Urashima, Wataru Amano, Hideto Yamamura and Noriko Konishi
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:411
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Paediatric inflammatory bowel disease (PIBD) patients require chronic care over the lifespan. Care for these patients is complex, as it is adapted for childrens’ life stages and changing disease activity. Guid...

    Authors: Aletta Boerkoel, Luisa Tischler, Kalina Kaul, Heiko Krause, Ulrike Stentzel, Stefan Schumann, Neeltje van den Berg and Jan de Laffolie
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:378
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Ulcerative colitis (UC) represents a clinically challenging condition characterized by persistent damage to the colonic epithelial mucosa as the principal pathological feature. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution...

    Authors: Zhiyong Zhang, Lingnan Kong, Ming Lv, Yukuan Yao, Li Gao, Ruchen Zhou, Wenlong Ma and Jing Li
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:368
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Anxiety and depression symptoms are common in IBD population, both adult and pediatric patients. Increased psychological distress might contribute to initiation and switching to biologic therapy in adult patie...

    Authors: F. Milo, G. Angelino, E.F. Romeo, P. De Angelis and P. Tabarini
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:355
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Therapeutic options for ulcerative colitis (UC) have increased since the introduction of biologics a few decades ago. Due to the wide range of biologics available, physicians have difficulty in selecting biolo...

    Authors: Xinqiao Chu, Yaning Biao, Chengjiang Liu, Yixin Zhang, Chenxu Liu, Ji-zheng Ma, Yufeng Guo and Yaru Gu
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:346
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. Mucosal healing has become the primary treatment target for patients with Crohn’s disease (CD). We aimed to develop a noninvasive and convenient tool to evaluate the endoscopic activity in patients with ileoco...

    Authors: Xiaolin Hu, Jiajia Li, Yunyun Sun, Dacheng Wu, Tiantian Zhao, Maofeng Ma, Jie Chen, Mei Wang and Sicong Hou
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:337
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Ulcerative colitis is a relapsing and remitting disease that may be associated with flares. The causes of flares in the Indian setting are not well recognized.

    Authors: Vishavdeep Singh Rana, Gaurav Mahajan, Amol N. Patil, Anupam K. Singh, Vaneet Jearth, Aravind Sekar, Harjeet Singh, Atul Saroch, Usha Dutta and Vishal Sharma
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:336
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. Fatigue is a debilitating and highly relevant symptom in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, awareness of fatigue and treatment options remains limited. This study was aimed at elucidating...

    Authors: Victoria Uhlir, Andreas Stallmach and Philip Christian Grunert
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:288
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. Gastrointestinal Tuberculosis (GITB) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are both chronic granulomatous diseases with a predilection to involve primarily the terminal ileum. GITB is often considered a disease of the deve...

    Authors: Arup Choudhury, Jasdeep Dhillon, Aravind Sekar, Pankaj Gupta, Harjeet Singh and Vishal Sharma
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:246
    Content type: Review Published on:

  24. Thiopurines continue to play an important role in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It is well known that thiopurines can cause several adverse reactions. Especially, hematopoietic toxicity ma...

    Authors: Shizuka Suzuki, Kan Uchiyama, Yutaro Motoi, Yuuki Yoshii, Yukari Inoue, Takahiro Kubota, Shunichi Odahara, Yuichiro Ohtaki, Shinichiro Takami, Zensho Ito, Nobuhiro Sato, Toshifumi Ohkusa, Shigeo Koido and Masayuki Saruta
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:239
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Ulcerative colitis is one of the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease. Cuproptosis is reported to be a novel mode of cell death.

    Authors: Yunfei Pu, Xianzhi Meng and Zhichen Zou
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:221
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:188

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:261

  26. Inflammatory bowel disease is an uncommon disease in developing nations whereby patient’s knowledge on the disease may be limited. The CCKNOW questionnaire, a widely known questionnaire to assess patient’s kno...

    Authors: Nik Razima Wan Ibrahim, Mahmoud Danaee, Xin-Hui Khoo, Suresh Sithambaram, Shahreedhan Shahrani, Alex Hwong-Ruey Leow, Jo-Ven Chang, John Francis Mayberry and Ida Normiha Hilmi
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:185
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), whether Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC), have an increased risk of acute pancreatitis. The prognostic value of diagnosing acute idiopathic pancre...

    Authors: Karim T. Osman, Asahi Hoque, Ravi Teja Pasam, Adel Farhoud, Ahmed Abdelfattah, Vishant Ramadorai, Khadija Chaudrey and Randall Pellish
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:171
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is considered an immune-mediated disease. The disorder of T-lymphocyte subsets plays an important role in the pathogenesis of UC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance ...

    Authors: Bailu Geng, Xueli Ding, Xiaoyu Li, Hua Liu, Wenjun Zhao, Haihong Gong, Zibin Tian and Jing Guo
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:136
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. Enteric fistula is one of the penetrating features in Crohn’s disease (CD). This study aimed to clarify the prognostic factors for the efficacy of infliximab (IFX) treatment in luminal fistulizing CD patients.

    Authors: Ye Ma, Runfeng Zhang, Wei Liu, Yinghao Sun, Jingnan Li, Hong Yang, Hong Lv, Yue Li, Bei Tan, Xiyu Sun, Jiaming Qian and Ji Li
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2023 23:57
    Content type: Research Published on:

  30. Studies have reported frailty as an independent risk factor of mortality in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, no systematic review and meta-analysis has been conducted to determine the r...

    Authors: Xiangting Huang, Mengmeng Xiao, Benyue Jiang, Xiuzheng Wang, Xiaoyu Tang, Xiao Xu, Ying Chen, Shixuan Wang, Songbo Yan, Siyi Wang, Jiang Wang and Pinglan Zhang
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2022 22:534
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Advances in pathogenesis and treatment research" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.