New Study Pinpoints Major Cause of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, What Are The Symptoms

DEBARYLIFE – Researchers in the UK have identified a significant contributing factor to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

They discovered a genetic vulnerability that affects 95% of those who have the illness.

It greatly facilitates the ability of some immune cells to go crazy and cause an overabundance of intestinal inflammation.

The group is now pursuing human trials after discovering that certain medications appear to reverse the condition in lab settings.

The two most prevalent types of inflammatory bowel illness are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. In the UK, they are thought to impact 500,000 people.

It frequently begins in adolescence or early adulthood.

The 27-year-old Lauren Golightly first experienced symptoms at the age of 16, including stomach cramps and blood in her feces.

However, this was attributed to her partying, and physicians didn’t identify her Crohn’s condition until she was 21 and had surgery to remove her appendix.

She still needs to “take a lot of pain medication” because of the several surgeries she has required. Three years ago, she required an emergency stoma because part of her intestines had “shut down.”

It’s not the kind of life she would like to lead, she declares.

What then isn’t working?

Macrophages, a type of white blood cell, are one immune system component that is heavily linked to inflammatory bowel disease.

These overflow the intestinal lining, releasing chemicals known as cytokines that cause severe inflammation.

While the body naturally responds to infection by inflaming tissues, excessive inflammation over an extended period of time can have detrimental effects on health.

To try to identify the underlying etiology of IBD, a team of researchers from the University College London and the Francis Crick Institute conducted a thorough genomic investigation.

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They found a region of DNA, or genetic code, which appears to be the “master regulator” of inflammation in macrophages.

According to Dr. James Lee of the Francis Crick Institute, it is located precisely at “the top of the pyramid.”

The gene that determines the range of inflammatory chemicals released by macrophages is inherited by certain individuals, who have a heightened propensity to react excessively.

“This is one of the main pathways that goes wrong for people to get inflammatory bowel disease,” Dr. Lee informed me.

“It is the mechanism through which one of the key cells causing inflammatory bowel disease malfunctions.”

IBD-free world?

Additional research, published in the journal Nature, revealed medications licensed for other ailments like cancer could also reduce this exaggerated inflammation.

These were carried out utilizing IBD patient samples.

Dr. Lee claims, “We not only figured out how and why it goes wrong, but we may have also discovered a novel way to treat these illnesses.”

However, a new IBD treatment is not going to be available anytime soon.

The fact that there are already medications gives the researchers an advantage, but they still need to figure out a technique to target only the macrophages in order totorse effects on other parts of the body.

Additionally, the medication would have to be precisely calibrated so that it would soothe the IBD without turning off the beneficial effects of inflammation in the fight against disease, leaving the patient vulnerable to infection.

Within the next five years, they want to begin clinical studies.

According to Ruth Wakeman of Crohn’s & Colitis UK, a charity, “this research is a really exciting step towards the possibility of a world free from Crohn’s and colitis one day.”

“There is no cure for Crohn’s and colitis, but research like this is helping us to answer some of the big questions about what causes them,” the speaker continued.

Genetic predisposition is still only one part of the tale, though. The onset of IBD also requires a trigger and antibiotic use and nutrition have both been linked to this.

IBD symptoms include diarrhea

Cramping or stomach ache

Blood in your stool

Bleeding from your butt weariness

Unintentional weight loss

Even though some of the symptoms are similar to irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, the illness is different from it. It is only when there is intestinal inflammation that an IBD diagnosis is made.