At the 13th Microbiome Congress in Rome, Maurizio Vecchi, gastroenterologist at Policlinico of Milan (Italy), discussed the current and potential role of the microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), highlighting how these disorders still have an incompletely understood etiology and how the microbiome is therefore likely to play a major part in both disease induction and persistence. 

Although attempts to modulate or manipulate the intestinal microbiome have so far yielded limited and not entirely satisfactory clinical results, this may largely reflect the remarkable complexity of the gut microbial ecosystem and the fact that many of its mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this context, Vecchi also presented findings from a study in patients with mild to moderate active ulcerative colitis treated either with mesalazine alone or mesalazine plus Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. While the addition of the probiotic did not produce statistically significant differences in clinical endpoints, it was associated with immunoregulatory effects on the mucosal immune system and with a reduction in fecal calprotectin, a key marker of intestinal inflammation. 

These findings suggest that microbiome-based adjunctive strategies, when combined with standard therapy, may offer benefits particularly in supporting long-term disease control and maintenance of remission.