Common Antibiotic Could Have Another Big Use, Study Says

A common antibiotic prescribed for infective diarrhea may also be effective in treating a specific type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to the latest research. 

A study recently published in the Journal of Crohn's and Colitis found that vancomycin is effective in treating IBD that develops from primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an incurable autoimmune liver disease. The trial was small with only five patients, but four of the five—or 80 percent—achieved remission of the disease after taking vancomycin. It's especially significant as some of the participants with the disease hadn't responded to other IBD treatments. 

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IBD and PSC have been closely correlated in the past. According to the researchers from the University of Birmingham, most people who have PSC develop IBD, and up to 14 percent of people with IBD also develop PSC. Those with these two conditions face a higher change of needing colon surgery and getting colon or liver cancer, needing a liver transplant, and the overall risk of death. Still, more research needs to be done, given the limited scope of the study. 

"Our findings suggest that vancomycin could offer a new therapeutic option for patients with this challenging combination of IBD and autoimmune liver disease. While these results are preliminary, they provide a strong foundation for further research," study author Dr. Mohammed Nabil Quraishi said in a statement. 

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The team is already working to take their research even further. "We are now preparing applications for a randomized controlled trial to determine the therapeutic effects of vancomycin," co-author Dr. Palak Trivedi said. "This next phase of research is crucial to understanding the full potential of vancomycin in PSC-IBD treatment."