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Vancomycin could offer new therapeutic option for patients with a type of inflammatory bowel disease
This suggests an existing antibiotic, vancomycin, may help a specific group of IBD patients who also have primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), including some who did not respond to other IBD treatments. If confirmed in randomized trials, it could become a new therapeutic option for PSC-IBD.
Adults with IBD and PSC, clinicians treating PSC-IBD, researchers studying microbiome–metabolome links in IBD, and patients interested in emerging treatment research.
What To Know
What to know This news report summarizes a University of Birmingham-led open-label clinical study testing oral vancomycin in people who have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the setting of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
According to the article, 80% of participants reached clinical remission after four weeks of vancomycin and all showed mucosal healing, but symptoms returned after stopping treatment. The researchers plan a randomized controlled trial next.
The study also linked vancomycin use to changes in bile acids and host–microbiome–metabolomic signatures; investigators say these findings are being followed up to understand mechanisms and refine treatments. The trial was supported by ECCO and NIHR-affiliated research centers and published in the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis.
No treatment recommendations are made in the source. The article describes preliminary clinical results from an open-label study; the authors and news item note that randomized trials are needed to confirm therapeutic benefit and safety.
Findings are from an open-label study with short treatment and follow-up; symptoms reportedly returned after stopping vancomycin. The article and authors emphasize the need for randomized controlled trials to determine efficacy, safety, and durability before clinical use changes.
