There is still no medical cure for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and the clinical management is challenging. In particular, differentiating between Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) and predicting the clinical course or the response to therapy is difficult. In this study, we aim to characterize tissue samples from IBD and control patients with […]
Precise manipulation of diet and gut microbiota is a novel and non-invasive therapy for IBD which is of great interest to patients. Enteral nutrition provides a clear example of a dietary intervention improving clinical outcomes such as mucosal healing. However, previous studies in IBD have altered several different dietary components at once making it challenging […]
The gut microbiota is believed to play a critical role in inflammation in Crohn’s disease (CD). Adherent–invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) often colonize the intestinal mucosa of CD patients. AIEC colonization may promote intestinal inflammation in CD patients. We have found that AIEC prefers to use the amino acid L-serine for growth in the inflamed gut. […]
Lymphatic vessels are specialized vessels that transport immune cells and fat out of the gut to maintain health. Surgeons treating Crohn’s disease decades ago argued that impaired lymphatic flow may be a key problem in the disease. However, only recently have tools emerged to study lymphatic vessels in detail. We have data that lymph transport […]
IBD is a complex disorder that results from a dysregulated immune response in the gut. Current and emerging therapy for IBD treatment is mainly focused on regulation of the immune response. Exosomes are nanovesicle packing different molecules that transfer their cargo to recipient cells. Mammalian milk contains high concentrations of exosomes (MDE) carrying immune-related molecules. […]
Crohn’s colitis that does not respond to medical therapy is treated surgically with removal of the colon and rectum and creation of a permanent end ileostomy. This can be devastating for some patients and is fraught with potential surgical morbidity, and even disease recurrence in the small intestine in a third of patients. Mesenchymal stem […]
Although there are many drugs available for the treatment of IBD, most patients do not respond long-term to any one drug. One possible reason is that the condition we call “IBD” likely represents many distinct diseases, rather than simply just ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, and each subtype may require a different treatment. Here we […]
The goal of this collaborative proposal is to create a novel 120,000 peptide chip for use in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of Crohn’s disease. The peptides will be both random and specific to gut bacterial proteins implicated in complicated Crohn’s disease. Patients with Crohn’s disease have a distinctive pattern of antibody binding to random […]
NOD2 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 2) is one of the most prominent risk factors in Crohn’s disease (CD), but the chemical mechanisms by which NOD2 mutations gives rise to CD is unclear. NOD2 is a proposed sensor of bacterial cell wall fragments that when mutated results in intestinal inflammation. However, the specific commensal bacteria that […]
Humans evolved with, and continue to harbor, trillions of microorganisms living inside or on our bodies. As a result, these microbes play fundamental roles in our health. The last 20 years of research has focused almost exclusively on our resident bacteria. New technologies have enabled identification of viruses within the intestine, i.e. “the virome”. Moreover, […]
