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Abstract or Project Description

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 peptides in the chip, called an immunosignature. We propose that the immunosignature will be a much more sensitive and specific method of diagnosis and prognosis than any currently available methods. Moreover, we propose that changes in the signature over time will reflect disease activity and response to therapy.

Abstract or Project Description

There is a critical need for non-invasive tests of Crohn’s disease activity to effectively guide diagnosis and therapy. Changes in the gut bacteria both reflect and contribute to inflammation in Crohn’s disease; however, current diagnostic test including invasive endoscopy or imaging procedures do not provide functional insight into the contribution to the underlying pathogenesis.

Here, we propose a novel, non-invasive blood test for Crohn’s disease that would guide patient therapy and provide mechanistic insight into inflammation associated with Crohn’s disease. A large number of small fragments of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) circulate in blood. cfDNA offers a unique window into human physiology, with applications in prenatal medicine, transplant medicine and cancer. Our proposal will test the role for cfDNA from a blood test as a non-invasive measure of gut-specific tissue inflammation and circulating gut bacteria in intestinal and systemic inflammation associated with Crohn’s disease.