BackgroundUlcerative colitis (UC) is the most common form of inflammatory bowel disease in the UK. UC can have a considerable impact on patients’ quality of life. The burden for the NHS is substantial.ObjectivesTo evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of interventions, to evaluate the incremental cost-effectiveness of all interventions and comparators (including medical and surgical options), to estimate the expected net budget impact of each intervention, and to identify key research priorities.Data sourcesPeer-reviewed publications, European Public Assessment Reports and manufacturers’ submissions. The following databases were searched from inception to December 2013 for clinical effectiveness searches and from inception to January 2014 for cost-effectiveness searches for published and unpublished research evidence: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, The Cochrane Library including the Cochrane Systematic Reviews Database, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Health Technology Assessment database and NHS Economic Evaluation Database; ISI Web of Science, including Science Citation Index, and the Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science and Bioscience Information Service Previews. The US Food and Drug Administration website and the European Medicines Agency website were also searched, as were research registers, conference proceedings and key journals.Review methodsA systematic review [including network meta-analysis (NMA)] was conducted to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of named interventions. The health economic analysis included a review of published economic evaluations and the development of a de novo model.ResultsTen randomised controlled trials were included in the systematic review. The trials suggest that adult patients receiving infliximab (IFX) [Remicade®, Merck Sharp & Dohme Ltd (MSD)], adalimumab (ADA) (Humira®, AbbVie) or golimumab (GOL) (Simponi®, MSD) were more likely to achieve clinical response and remission than those receiving placebo (PBO). Hospitalisation data were limited, but suggested more favourable outcomes for ADA- and IFX-treated patients. Data on the use of surgical intervention were sparse, with a potential benefit for intervention-treated patients. Data were available from one trial to support the use of IFX in paediatric patients. Safety issues identified included serious infections, malignancies and administration site reactions. Based on the NMA, in the induction phase, all biological treatments were associated with statistically significant beneficial effects relative to PBO, with the greatest effect associated with IFX. For patients in response following induction, all treatments except ADA and GOL 100 mg at 32–52 weeks were associated with beneficial effects when compared with PBO, although these were not significant. The greatest effects at 8–32 and 32–52 weeks were associated with 100 mg of GOL and 5 mg/kg of IFX, respectively. For patients in remission following induction, all treatments except ADA at 8–32 weeks and GOL 50 mg at 32–52 weeks were associated with beneficial effects when compared with PBO, although only the effect of ADA at 32–52 weeks was significant. The greatest effects were associated with GOL (at 8–32 weeks) and ADA (at 32–52 weeks). The economic analysis suggests that colectomy is expected to dominate drug therapies, but for some patients, colectomy may not be considered acceptable. In circumstances in which only drug options are considered, IFX and GOL are expected to be ruled out because of dominance, while the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for ADA versus conventional treatment is approximately £50,300 per QALY gained.LimitationsThe health economic model is subject to several limitations: uncertainty associated with extrapolating trial data over a lifetime horizon, the model does not consider explicit sequential pathways of non-biological treatments, and evidence relating to complications of colectomy was identified through consideration of approaches used within previous models rather than a full systematic review.ConclusionsAdult patients receiving IFX, ADA or GOL were more likely to achieve clinical response and remission than those receiving PBO. Further data are required to conclusively demonstrate the effect of interventions on hospitalisation and surgical outcomes. The economic analysis indicates that colectomy is expected to dominate medical treatments for moderate to severe UC.Study registrationThis study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42013006883.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme.

IL-13 has been implicated in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC), and may have a role in animal models of gut fibrosis. We studied the involvement of IL-13 in inflammation and fibrosis in UC and Crohn's disease (CD). Intestinal biopsies and anti-CD3/CD28-or anti-CD2/CD28-stimulated lamina propria mononuclear cells from UC and CD patients and control subjects were cultured, and IL-13, IL-4, IL-5, IL-17A and IFN-γ production was measured. Mucosal IL-13-producing cells were characterised by flow cytometry. Gut explants from strictured CD, non-strictured CD and healthy donors were cultured ex vivo, and secreted IL-13, IL-1β and collagen were measured. IL-13 production by mucosal explants and activated lamina propria mononuclear cells did not differ between CD, UC and control subjects, and was at least a log lower than IFN-γ and IL-17A. IL-13-producing cells, and in particular natural killer T cells, were uniformly low in all groups. IL-4 and IL-5 were undetectable in culture supernatants. Explants of CD strictures produced low amounts of IL-13, whereas IL-1β and collagen were elevated. We could not confirm that UC or strictured CD are associated with elevated IL-13 production. These data suggest that an anti-IL-13 Ab would not be an appropriate therapeutic strategy in inflammatory bowel disease. Keywords:Crohn's disease r Fibrosis r T helper cell type 2 r Ulcerative colitis Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher's web-site Correspondence: Prof. Thomas T. MacDonald e-mail: t.t.macdonald@qmul.ac.uk * These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.C 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.eji-journal.eu Eur. J. Immunol. 2014. 44: 370-385 Cellular immune response 371 IntroductionCrohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic inflammatory bowel disorders thought to be caused by an abnormal immune response against the normal microbial flora [1]. Until recent years, intestinal lesions in CD were thought to be the end result of a T helper cell type (Th)1 response, with overproduction of . However, more recently, two novel subsets of CD4 + T cells, namely Th17 cells, which produce the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17A, and Th1/Th17 cells, which release both IFN-γ and IL-17A, have been identified [3,4]. IL-17A is overexpressed in both CD and UC mucosa, and an increased number of Th17 and Th1/Th17 cells has been found in the lamina propria of inflammatory bowel disease patients compared with controls, suggesting that, in addition to Th1 cells, Th17 responses may play an important role in the pathogenesis of both CD and UC [5][6][7]. As opposed to CD, mucosal inflammation in UC is thought to be driven by Th2 cytokines, such as IL-5 and IL-13 [2]. IL-13 is a pleiotropic cytokine with effects on many cell types, including macrophages, epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells and neurons [8]. IL-13, produced by Th2 cells and CD1d-restricted natural killer T (NKT) cells, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of an UC-like model of...

IntroductionBangladesh has a serious shortage of qualified health workforce. The limited numbers of trained service providers are based in urban areas, which limits access to quality healthcare for the rural population. mHealth provides a new opportunity to ensure access to quality services to the population. A recent review suggested that there are 19 mHealth initiatives in the country. This paper reports findings on people's knowledge, perception, use, cost and compliance with advice received from mHealth services from a study carried out during 2012–13 in Chakaria, a rural sub-district in Bangladesh.MethodsA total of 4,915 randomly-chosen respondents aged 18 years and above were interviewed.ResultsHousehold ownership of mobile phones in the study area has increased from 2% in 2004 to 81% in 2012; 45% of the respondents reported that they had mobile phones. Thirty-one percent of the respondents were aware of the use of mobile phones for healthcare. Very few people were aware of the available mHealth services. Males, younger age group, better educated, and those from richer households were more knowledgeable about the existing mHealth services. Among the respondents who sought healthcare in the preceding two weeks of the survey, only 2% used mobile phones for healthcare. Adherence to the advice from the healthcare providers in terms of purchasing and taking the drugs was somewhat similar between the patients who used mobile phone for consultation versus making a physical visit.ConclusionsThe high penetration of mobile phones into the society provides a unique opportunity to use the mHealth technology for consulting healthcare providers. Although knowledge of the existence of mHealth services was low, it was encouraging that the compliance with the prescriptions was almost similar for advice received through mobile phone and physical visits. The study revealed clear indications that society is looking forward to embracing the mHealth technology.

As part of its single technology appraisal (STA) process, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) invited the manufacturer of vedolizumab (Takeda UK) to submit evidence of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vedolizumab for the treatment of patients with moderate-to-severe active ulcerative colitis (UC). The Evidence Review Group (ERG) produced a critical review of the evidence for the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the technology, based upon the company's submission to NICE. The evidence was derived mainly from the GEMINI1 trial, which is a Phase III, multicentre, randomised, doubleblind, placebo-controlled trial designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab as an induction and maintenance treatment in patients with moderate-to-severe active UC who had an inadequate response to, loss of response to, or intolerance to conventional therapy or anti-Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-). The clinical evidence showed that vedolizumab performed significantly better than placebo in both the induction and maintenance phases. In the post-hoc subgroup analyses, patients with or without prior anti-TNF-therapy, vedolizumab performed better then placebo (p-value not reported). In addition, a greater improvement in health-related quality of life was observed in patients treated with vedolizumab and the frequency and types of adverse events were similar between the vedolizumab and placebo group but the evidence was limited to shortterm follow-up. There were a number of limitations and uncertainties in the clinical evidence base which warrant caution in its interpretation. In particular, the post-hoc subgroup analyses and high dropout rates in the maintenance phase of the GEMINI1 trial. The company also presented a network meta-analysis of vedolizumab versus other biologics therapies indicated for moderate-to-severe UC. However, the ERG considered that the results presented may have underestimated the uncertainty in treatment effects since fixed effects models were Key Points for Decision Makers Vedolizumab appears to be more effective in both the induction and maintenance phase compared with placebo in patients with moderate-to-severe active ulcerative colitis who have had an inadequate response to, loss of response to, or intolerance to conventional therapy or TNF-inhibitor. However, the subgroup analyses for patients with or without prior TNF-inhibitor therapy were post-hoc and the study was not powered for these assessments.  The findings of the network meta-analysis of vedolizumab versus TNF-inhibitor are limited due to a number of uncertainties in treatment effects. In addition, there is currently no head-to-head randomised 3 controlled trial comparing vedolizumab to other biologic therapies indicated for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis.  The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Appraisal Committee recommended vedolizumab within its licence indication but only if the company provides vedolizumab with the discount agr...