A Brief Overview of the 32nd Annual STP Symposium on the Toxicologic Pathology of the Digestive Tract and Pancreas

Abstract

The digestive tract and pancreas are rapidly growing areas of toxicologic inquiry and regulatory concern, and this symposium provided a great opportunity to review and expand one’s knowledge base in this important field. In a series of plenary and poster sessions, the symposium focused on correlating advances in morphologic evaluation interpretation and integration of findings in the digestive tract and pancreas with functional, cellular, and molecular end points. It also provided a venue for interactive discussion of the current methods in both conventional and specialized nonclinical safety studies involving the digestive tract and pancreas. The six core scientific sessions included Normal Digestive Tract Functional Anatomy and Physiology, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Digestive Tract Toxicity and Risk Assessment, Digestive Tract Carcinogenesis, Biomarkers of Digestive Tract and Pancreatic Injury and Disease, and Pancreatic Toxicity and Carcinogenesis. The symposium keynote address focused on the gut microbiome and its critical interactions with the digestive tract epithelium and the mucosal immune system during health and disease. Individual presentations focused on a mix of traditional and contemporary strategies for the pathophysiologic and toxicologic evaluation of the digestive tract and pancreas. The symposium also provided a unique forum for reviewing recent progress in developing and optimizing best practices for routine and specialized toxicologic pathology evaluation of digestive tract and pancreas across academia and the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The symposium also featured practical case study presentations as part of the scientific sessions on Digestive Tract Toxicity and Risk Assessment and Pancreatic Toxicity and Carcinogenesis.