Crohn’s disease tagged posts

Research discoveries by Bali Pulendran (seated) and colleagues point to possible new treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel diseases and autoimmune diseases in humans. Credit: Image courtesy of Emory Health Sciences

Intestinal inflammation in mice can be dampened by subjecting them briefly to a diet restricted in amino acids. The findings, made by Bali Pulendran and colleagues at Emory University, highlight an ancient connection between cellular mechanisms to sense nutrient availability and control of inflammation. They also suggest that a low protein diet – or drugs that mimic its effects on immune cells – could be tools for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

This protective effect was shown to be mediated by molecule GCN2, wh...

The research may strengthen researchers’ abilities to better predict a child’s risk for associated autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases, eg type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, collectively affect 1 in 12 persons in the Western hemisphere. They represent a significant cause of chronic disability.

“The results from this study enable us to better understand the genetic component of these diseases and how they are genetically related to each other, thereby explaining why different autoimmune disorders often run in the same family,” said Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D.

The research encompassed 9 pediatric-onset autoimmune diseases (pAIDs): type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, common variable immunodeficiency, systemic lupus eryth...

A new software tool allows scientists to link different human diseases and traits through the genetic variations they share. Credit: Liuyang Wang, Dennis Ko lab

A new study hints we should be paying attention to omega-6, omega-7 for improving/ worsening Crohn’s. Some research has suggested that omega-3 fatty acids can relieve inflammation. Research has suggested high-fat diets may be linked with Crohn’s disease, but never have the 2 been joined through shared genetics. Certain subtle genetic variations — as small as a single-letter change in the DNA — seem to occur more often in people with Crohn’s disease. Separate lines of work show that specific genetic variations are linked to higher levels of some fatty acids (molecular building blocks of fat) in the bloodstream.

In the new study, res...

Scientists who analyzed the genes involved in 10 autoimmune diseases that begin in childhood have discovered 22 genome-wide signals shared by 2 or more diseases. These shared gene sites may reveal potential new targets for treating many of these diseases, in some cases with existing drugs already available for non-autoimmune disorders. Autoimmune diseases, eg Type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, collectively affect 7 to 10% of the Western Hemisphere.

Meta-analysis was performed, incl a case-control study of 6,035 subjects with automimmune disease and 10,700 controls, all of European ancestry. Yun (Rose) Li, M.D./Ph.D...