The Genomic Basis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Genomic Basis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
IRAS ID
227850
Contact name
Tony Bjourson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Genomics Medicine Ireland
Duration of Study in the UK
8 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
According to the Irish Society for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease, there are around 20,000 individuals in Ireland diagnosed with IBD (http://www.iscc.ie/#!about/c126y). We aim to recruit at least 2000 IBD patients seen Altnagelvin Hospital/C-TRIC. Through national collaboration, we aim to ascertain 6,000 patients nationally. We are interested in investigating the spectrum of genomic factors contributing to IBD risk, disease progression and drug response to help develop better diagnostics and therapeutics.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal disorders primarily affecting adults in the prime of their life. Patients can present with severe diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss and abdominal pain. There are two major forms of IBD, Crohn’s disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC). These are characterised by cycles of inflammation leading to disease flare-ups, with relapses and remission occurring in-between these medical crises. The incidence of UC (8.2/100,000 person-years) is greater than that of CD (5.4/100,000 person-years) (Burisch & Munkholm, 2015). CD is also associated with increased mortality in the Irish population (O’Toole et al, 2014), and there is an increased risk of colon cancer to both sets of patients. The genetic contribution to IBD has been well documented in families and twins (Bengtson et al, 2009; Cho & Brant, 2011; Liu et al, 2014; Halme et al, 2006; Brant et al, 2011).
The focus of this study is to research how our genes, environment and lifestyle influence disease risk, disease subtype, disease progression and drug response. We will do this by using cutting edge techniques such as whole genome sequencing. This technique which will allow us to perform in-depth analysis of all genes at the same time compared to previously published research studies which only focused on small subsections of our genetic material.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0257
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion