Numerous scientific studies conducted over the past years expand our understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological effects of bilirubin. In this review of the literature, the authors, using the example of Gilbert’s syndrome, as a classic condition occurring with hyperbilirubinemia, discuss the results of clinical and experimental studies demonstrating the protective mechanisms and the protective role of elevated bilirubin concentration in relation to diseases accompanied by metabolic inflammation, oncological diseases, and a number of others. The authors focus on the hormonal function of bilirubin and its potential therapeutic effect discussed in recent scientific works. The purpose of this review of the literature is to expand the understanding of bilirubin from the clinician’s usual in the context of the end product of heme and antioxidant metabolism to a signaling molecule involved in the pathophysiology of many diseases.

The priority of the national health policy is to preserve the life and a high level of quality of life for every premature baby. The clinical focus is on children born with ELBW. Among this category of children, NEC makes the main contribution to the structure of infant mortality. Based on the analysis of the literature, the authors conclude that the study of cell markers that characterize different depths of damage to enterocytes allows: to assess the likelihood of developing NEC in infants with ELMT; conduct early diagnosis of NEC; rule out NEC in neonates with similar symptoms; predict the course of NEC; propose and substantiate personalized approaches to correcting the low supply of 25(OH)D; to analyze the influence of candidate genes on the implementation of NEC, its outcomes, and 25(OH)D metabolism. To assess damage at the level of the enterocyte, the authors selected the intestinal fraction of fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP) for literature analysis. To determine the depth of damage to intercellular junctions of the intestine - the expression of transmembrane (claudin-2, claudin-3, claudin-4, occludin) and cytoplasmic (zonulin) tight junction proteins. Analysis of the results of studies on the expression of fecal calprotectin, lipocalin-2 (LCN2) and eosinophilic neurotoxin, showing the activity of local inflammation, was carried out in order to assess both the risk of NEC and its course. Intestinal damage is associated with impaired 25(OH)D metabolism, and metabolic bone disease in preterm infants with damage to the intestinal barrier up to NEC is recorded ten times more often at the stage of nursing in the NICU. A huge number of studies have shown a decrease in survival, an increase in the risk of severe complications against the background of a low supply of 25(OH)D in the preterm population. The authors analyze the relationship between 25(OH)D availability, taking into account the influence of exogenous and endogenous factors, the nature of damage to the intestinal wall and the implementation of NEC, and focus on the existing preventive and therapeutic approaches to prescribing various doses of vitamin D in preterm infants with NEC.

Numerous epidemiological studies demonstrate that cystic fibrosis, the most common orphan disease in the world, can not occur in isolation, but can be combined with other serious diseases. The most common such combination in all populations is traditionally cystic fibrosis and celiac disease, which, on the one hand, differ in the leading mechanism of inflammation, in cystic fibrosis - chronic microbial inflammation, in celiac disease - autoimmune, on the other hand, these two diseases have a number of common pathogenesis links, in particular, realizing the syndrome of malabsorption, which only complicates the timely diagnosis of these combined pathological conditions. In addition, the authors of the literature review focus on clinical examples of late detection of autoimmune gluten intolerance against the background of cystic fibrosis. They also consider the combination of cystic fibrosis with other severe, disabling diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, phenylketonuria, oncological diseases), which sometimes require a serious change in therapeutic tactics.

Heterotopic pancreas (HPG) is an aberrant anatomical malformation that is most commonly located in the upper gastrointestinal tract. The presence of an aberrant pancreas in most cases is asymptomatic, but in a number of clinical situations it is accompanied by symptoms that require drug therapy, sometimes surgical or endoscopic intervention. Analysis of the clinical manifestations and symptoms of BPH is important in choosing the tactics of treating patients. The difficulty lies in the fact that there is not enough information on BPH in the literature, there are no data from a study in a large cohort of patients with BPH. The purpose of the publication is to review clinical cases, including our own observation, and compare them with a systematic review of the literature in order to draw conclusions about the features of clinical manifestations, pathomorphosis and modern principles of treatment of the disease.