Crohn’s disease causes long-lasting inflammation in the intestines. Specialized tubes in the body, called lymphatic vessels, may play an important role in this disease. Intestinal lymphatics normally carry fluids, nutrients and immune cells from the intestine to nearby lymph nodes. In people with Crohn’s disease, lymphatics can become blocked or leaky, which may cause more inflammation and thickening of the intestines. Some patients require surgery to avoid bowel obstruction.
We want to understand the role of lymphatic blockage in Crohn’s disease. Right now, researchers can only study severely affected tissue that has been removed during surgery, so we do not know what happens earlier in the disease or to patients who respond to therapy without needing surgery. We have identified natural, select bile acids that are orally stable and move out of the intestine through lymphatics. We will generate radioactive versions of these bile acids and track their movement with PET scans, hopefully leading to a safe, new way to image lymphatics in patients, regardless of disease stage or complications.
This new tool could let doctors see whether lymph flow is blocked in patients with Crohn’s disease and might one day help predict who needs surgery or help guide new treatments.
