The slow epidemic of liver disease in the UK over the past 30 years is a result of increased consumption of strong cheap alcohol. When we examined alcohol consumption in 404 subjects with a range of liver disease, we confi rmed that patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis drank huge amounts of cheap alcohol, with a mean weekly consumption of 146 units in men and 142 in women at a median price of 33p/unit compared with £1.10 for low-risk drinkers. For the patients in our study, the impact of a minimum unit price of 50p/unit on spending on alcohol would be 200 times higher for patients with liver disease who were drinking at harmful levels than for low-risk drinkers. As a health policy, a minimum unit price for alcohol is exquisitely targeted at the heaviest drinkers, for whom the impact of alcohol-related illness is most devastating.

over 48 hours increased the epithelial cell proliferation rate by up to 56% in Caco-2 (p<0.01) and 42% in HT-29 (p<0.001) cells. Conclusion Our data demonstrates that IL-27 enhances epithelial barrier wound healing. Gene expression data suggests that cell-cell adhesion is enhanced through increased E-cadherin expression, with a reduction in permeability through decreased expression of claudin-2 (pore forming) and increase in claudin-4 (pore closing). Tight junction function is enhanced through increased expression of occludin and tight junctional protein-1. Further studies will define the IL-27 driven permeability related protein expression profile and impact on functional permeability in organoids and whether IL-27 is a potential new treatment for IBD.