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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2025; 31(26): 108375
Published online Jul 14, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i26.108375
Ulcerative colitis: Timeline to a cure
Jay Pravda
Jay Pravda, Department of Disease Pathogenesis, Inflammatory Disease Research Centre, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410, United States
Author contributions: Pravda J is the sole author of this manuscript and solely responsible for its content; Pravda J performed all the research, collected, analyzed, and interpreted all the data, conceived of and developed the hydrogen peroxide-based pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis, prepared and wrote the manuscript and performed all critical revisions, certifies that this manuscript is the product of his original research and has overall responsibility for this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jay Pravda, MD, MPH, MBE, Department of Disease Pathogenesis, Inflammatory Disease Research Centre, 4371 Northlake Blvd No. 247, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410, United States. jay.pravda@protonmail.com
Received: April 12, 2025
Revised: May 1, 2025
Accepted: June 27, 2025
Published online: July 14, 2025
Processing time: 90 Days and 12.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Since the mid-20th century, research into the causes of ulcerative colitis has predominantly focused on the immune system and microbiome, overlooking the colonic epithelium’s role in its pathogenesis. This conformation bias has delayed recognition of the causal role played by colonocyte hydrogen peroxide in the pathogenesis of this inflammatory bowel disease. Notably, fewer than a dozen studies since that time have laid the groundwork for this conclusion. This review critically examines these foundational studies through the lens of contemporary biomedical science, tracing their evolution toward the identification of a causal role for colonocyte hydrogen peroxide in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis.