In North America, around 750,000 individuals have ulcerative colitis. There are 40 to 240 cases of UC diagnosed out of every 100,000 persons. People in the United States who have a close relative with ulcerative colitis have a 1–30 percent increased risk of developing Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
IBD (Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis) was diagnosed in around 1.3% of US adults in 2015. This was a significant rise above what was recorded in 1999. (0.9 percent or 2 million adults)
Ulcerative Colitis And Its Treatment
According to recent Stanford Medicine research, statins, a frequently given cholesterol-lowering medication, appear to be a successful, albeit surprising, therapy for ulcerative colitis, a kind of inflammatory bowel disease with no cure.
For those who have suffered from colitis issues, the experts believe that they have got a higher probability of suffering from IBD as per research. The research team has collected samples from different areas with various medical conditions where the team has got exceptional results. The novel treatment options have shown better options that can prove helpful to people who have ulcerative colitis.
Anti-inflammatory medications, which don’t always work, and a colectomy, the surgical removal of part or all the colon, are now the only options for treating ulcerative colitis. Purvesh Khatri, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and biomedical data science, who led the study, stated that finding another alternative is crucial.
“As a last option, around 30% of ulcerative colitis patients are forced to have a colectomy. It’s a big step; you’re losing a significant portion of your body “Khatri said. “So, we wondered if we could leverage existing data to determine whether medicines that have previously been authorized by the FDA may be repurposed to better treat these patients.”
Inflammation and ulcers in the intestine are caused by ulcerative colitis, leaving patients prone to a variety of unpleasant symptoms such as stomach discomfort, blood in the stool, constipation, and tiredness. While not life-threatening, the disease can be extremely debilitating, especially if anti-inflammatory medicines fail to function.
According to Khatri and his team’s findings, a small number of medications have been linked to a reduction in the symptoms of ulcerative colitis when using publicly accessible datasets that include genetic and prescription data. Atorvastatin, marketed as Lipitor, proved to be a top performer, reducing the requirement for surgical therapy for ulcerative colitis, anti-inflammatory drug use, and hospitalization.
Khatri and his team began their research by examining publicly accessible genetic data from hundreds of ulcerative colitis patients who had received a colon biopsy, a routine technique that aids doctors in the diagnosis and severity of the condition. There were certain genomic “signatures,” or patterns of gene activity that were being sought by Khatri and his colleagues and looked to be present in the majority of cases.
It didn’t matter whether or not the patient was going through a flare in their condition, according to Khatri, who examined both national and international data. While the exact mechanism by which statins reduce the symptoms of the illness is still a mystery, Khatri claims they have some type of broad anti-inflammatory potential.
A “strong enough relationship” may be made to start prescribing statins for ulcerative colitis, according to Khatri. “We’re almost there, in my opinion. Before implementing it in the clinic, we need to confirm its efficacy with higher standards of proof.”
According to Khatri, another advantage of the study is that it gives a framework for identifying medicines already on the market and repurposing them to treat different ailments. He argued that the method had a lot of promise, particularly in the area of autoimmune disorders.
