IBS – The Physiologist’s Perspective Dr Anthony R. Hobson PhD Consultant Clinical Scientist, London The Functional Gut Clinic Reclaiming the ‘F’ word • The f-word – ‘functional’ has become a by-word for ‘failure’ to understand what is actually wrong with the patient. • Understanding how the gut is functioning (and what is causing gut dysfunction) is key to targeting treatment, we have the technology and we need to re-claim the f-word as a credible diagnosis. • The Functional Gut Clinic is the first GI Physiology Unit in the UK to achieve the new IQIPS/UKAS accreditation process (equivalent to JAG in endoscopy) as well as be CQC accredited. • Provides diagnostic services using state of the art equipment, advanced analysis techniques and acquisition protocols to maximise the diagnostic yield of tests. Symptoms Physiology Function Behaviour Accurate Diagnosis Effective Treatment CNS reactivity The model HPA-axis reactivity ANS reactivity Microbiota-mucosal interface Caecal fermentation (pH) Differential changes in inflammatory profile, pain sensitivity, motility and secretion. Brain Imaging Psychological profiling Testing the model Blood Assays Real-time ANS recordings pH profiling Breath Tests GI Motility and Neurophysiology Biopsies Stool samples The pain hypothesis • IBS patients have more gut symptoms and pain than healthy people so are they more sensitive to GI pain? Does gut stimulation activate the cortex? MEG A FMRI B Does brain activation correlate with stimulation intensity and sensory perception? Cohen et al Does brain activation always correlate with stimulation intensity and sensory perception? Sidhu, H. et al. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2004 Is the brain’s response to pain specific to the experimental stimulus? Pain Anticipation Insula DLPFC Cingulate Yaguez et al Gastroenterology. 2005 Extinction MEG - Evoked field potential recorded following painful electrical stimulation of the gut ~80ms Somatosensory cortex (Sensory discrimination) Temporal sequence of activation ~140ms 250ms Cingulate cortex (Affective) Hobson et al Gastroenterology 2005 Ano-rectal sensory neurophysiology – Hypersensitivity in IBS Arebi and Hobson et al NGM 2011 Hypersensitivity in IBS – lack of habituation Arebi and Hobson et al NGM 2011 The pain hypothesis • Subset of IBS patients have increased sensory nerve sensitivity (ascending pathways). • Subset of IBS patients have hypersensitivity driven by lack of central inhibition of pain (descending pathways). • Subset of IBS have normal sensitivity • Subset of IBS are hyposensitive • ‘IBS’ patients span the entire sensory spectrum The psychological hypothesis • IBS patients have more psychological comorbidity than healthy people so is it all in the brain? Psychological profiles Arebi and Hobson et al NGM, 2011 Personality profiles * Arebi and Hobson et al NGM, 2011 No correlation between psychological or personality measures and objective or subjective measures of pain sensitivity The neuro-immune hypothesis • IBS patients have a more irritable gut than healthy people so is their neuro-immune system different? Stress and immunity • • • • Acute stressors – public speaking (supress TH-1) Sustained stress – academic examinations (supress TH-2) Chronic stress – bereavement (?) The immune system cannot mount an optimal defence against all possible threats so uses environmental information to ‘weight’ the system in favour of most probable risk. • Confers evolutionary advantage • In the absence of real threats leaves you with the symptomatic ‘baggage’ without the survival benefit. PBMC IL-8 release to LPS in IBS and Controls (pro-inflammatory) 18000 * 16000 14000 * * * *p<0.0001 * 12000 10000 Cx study 1 8000 IBS Study 1 6000 4000 2000 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 PBMC IL-10 release to LPS in IBS and Controls (anti-inflammatory) 1800 * 1600 * 1400 * 1200 1000 *p<0.01 * * Cx Study 1 800 IBS Study 1 600 400 200 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 PBMC TNF-alpha release to LPS in IBS and Controls (pro-inflammatory) 10000 * 9000 8000 * * * 7000 *p<0.0001 6000 * 5000 Cx Study 1 IBS Study 1 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 PBMC IFN-gamma release to LPS in IBS and Controls – TH-1 3500 * 3000 *p<0.02 * 2500 * * 2000 CX Study 1 IBS Study 1 1500 1000 500 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 PBMC IL-4 release to LPS in IBS and Controls – TH2 100 90 80 70 60 Cx 50 IBS 40 30 20 10 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 TH-17 profile? Neuro-immune link - Correlation between IL-8 and VDVAS-I 25000 20000 IL-8 15000 IL8 Linear (IL8) 10000 5000 0 0 5 10 15 VDVAS-I R = 0.61, p<0.0001 20 25 Is there a unifying hypothesis? • Stress effects all of the above systems is this the unifying factor? Co-incubation with stress hormone CRF inhibits IFN-G in controls 3500 3000 2500 2000 Cx Means CRF 0 Cx Means CRF 1 IBS Means CRF 0 1500 IBS Means CRF 1 1000 500 0 LPS 0 LPS 0.1 LPS 0.3 LPS 1 LPS 3 LPS 10 Experimental design for evaluating stress in IBS Murray et al Gastroenterology 2004 Development of an IBS stress model Rectal Mucosal Blood Flow Physical Stress Psychological Stress Acute autonomic response to stress is similar in IBS and Controls, but recovery is slightly prolonged in IBS. Murray et al Gastroenterology 2004 Development of an IBS stress model Rectal Perception Thresholds Physical Stress Psychological Stress Stress induces rectal hypersensitivity in IBS but not controls. Psychological stressors relatively easy to define What if it’s something in the gut causing the patients to be stressed and driving these processes? Digestion and Fermentation Digestion and Fermentation Around 15% of our calorific intake is due to secondary fermentation and absorption in the caecum / colon Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) Caecal malfermentation Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, caecal fermentation and carbohydrate mal-absorption • Recent (and not so recent research) has shown that highly fermentable foods can exacerbate symptoms in IBS (fibre, FODMAPS etc). • Interaction between microbiota (location and composition) and poorly digested carbohydrates (predominantly) has become an area of focus. • Can we carry out objective evaluation of these processes to better understand these processes? Hydrogen and Methane breath testing Hydrogen and methane Breath testing - SIBO 70 10 9 60 8 VAS Score GAS (PPM) 50 7 6 40 H+ ppm CH4+ 5 30 4 3 20 2 10 1 0 0 0min 15min 30min 45min 60min 16g of lactulose given in 200ml of water 75min 90min 105min 120min Bloating Nausea Pain VISUAL ANALOGUE SCALES 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 NAUSEA 0 1 2 3 4 5 BLOATING 0 1 2 3 4 5 PAIN / CRAMPING Other factors • Bowel movements • Other GI symptoms (belching, borborygmi etc) • Extra GI symptoms (headache, tiredness, dizziness, emotional) • Abdominal girth (pre and post study distension) The Wireless Motility Capsule (SmartPill) Ingestible telemetric (‘wireless’) capsule-based technique • • • • relatively non-invasive no radiation continuous monitoring (>5 days) patients in own environment Measures compartmental (gastric, small bowel and colonic) and whole gut transit as well as quantifying contractility. SmartPill – data outputs ingestion pH rise GRT SBTT pH drop excretion CTT temperature pH pressure Pressure Temperature pH SmartPill – Stomach ingestion Gastric acid buffered by test meal Strong contractions pH Rise in small bowel temperature pH pressure Pressure Temperature pH SmartPill – small bowel Small Bowel transit temperature pH pressure Pressure Temperature pH pH drop Enters the colon SmartPill – colon Slow rise in pH Colonic transit time temperature pH Low caecal pH due to fermentation and production of Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA) pressure Pressure Temperature pH SmartPill – confirm expulsion Slow rise in pH temperature Waiting pH for at least 60-seconds after flushing allows temperature drop to confirm expulsion pressure Pressure Temperature pH IBS versus Controls • 16 female patients with IBS-A v 16 female controls • Abdominal Pain • Bloating • Visible distension • Tend towards constipation but alternate to periods of frequent loose stools Farmer and Hobson 2014 WJG Regional Transit Times Controls v IBS-A P=0.01 Patients Controls (min) (Mean ± SD) (Mean ± SD) AAUC (mmHg*s) Transit Time P-value P<0.05 290 76 306 55.9 0.86 SBTT 305 14.5 270 25.9 0.24 CTT 1443 192.8 1861 263.7 0.21 2039 202 2437 279.4 0.26 GET WGTT GET: Gastric emptying time; SBTT: Small bowel transit time; CTT: Colonic transit time; WGTT: Whole gut transit time. Farmer and Hobson 2014 WJG Regional Contractility Controls v IBS-A P=0.01 Controls Patients (AUC) (Mean ± SD) (Mean ± SD) Antral 3590 708.3 4710 850.1 0.32 Duodenal 3909 919 6000 1310 0.20 Ileal 13414 2203 12679 2131 0.81 Cecal 4071 531.2 5176 878 0.29 Recto-sigmoid 20504 4583 11894 215 0.09 AAUC (mmHg*s) Motility AUC: Areas under the curve. Farmer and Hobson 2014 WJG P-value P<0.05 Caecal pH * P<0.05 * P<0.05 Farmer and Hobson 2014 WJG In Press Caecal Contractility versus pH (r = 0.54, P = 0.002) Farmer and Hobson 2014 WJG In Press Conclusions • No overt differences between regional transit times and motility between healthy controls and IBS. • Only difference is lower caecal pH in IBS • Caecal pH is a surrogate marker of SCFA production due to bacterial fermentation • SCFA inhibit colonic contractility • Caecal pH is an objective biomarker of aberrant fermentation in IBS and can be used to select patients that may benefit from treatment of this process. New concepts • • • • Mirrors gastroparesis in upper gut SCFA mediated ‘caecoparesis’ More akin to ‘anal vomiting’ than diarrhoea IBS – V ? You heard it here first! So what are the next steps • A study to validate caecal pH as a biomarker of caecal mal-fermentation in IBS • Validate the caecal pH as a marker of therapeutic efficacy in IBS • Prove the concept of a ‘therapeutic window’ for caecal pH • Role of stress, diet, pharmaceuticals, colonic irrigation etc to test the model Caecal pH - Therapeutic Window? 7.5 7 Constipation 6.5 6 Normal 5.5 5 Loose stools 4.5 4 Severe Moderate Mild Constipation Constipation Constipation Normal Normal Normal Normal Mild Loose Moderate Severe Loose Bowels Loose Bowels Bowels Planned trial starting 1Q 2015 Study Plan • • • • • 48-IBS patients will be recruited (self referred) Online screening via questionnaire Consultation with gastroenterologist Diagnostics – SmartPill and HMBT Randomised to 3-arms Low FODMAP, Control Diet, Linaclotide for 28-days • Repeat Diagnostics • Treatment plan for GP and patient going forward based on objective data • WE NEED YOUR HELP RECRUITING PATIENTS [email protected]
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