Tissue remodelling in fibrostenosing IBD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tissue remodelling and fibrostenosis in Crohn’s disease – a study of molecular signals and biomarkers
IRAS ID
248494
Contact name
Marietta Iacucci
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The incidence of Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is on the increase in UK. IBD carries significant morbidity for patients and also places considerable economic burden on the NHS.
Crohn's disease is a chronic IBD which can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. The natural history of the disease renders patients vulnerable to complications such as strictures (narrowing) within the lumen of the bowel leading to intestinal obstruction and also in most cases, formation of complex fistulas.
The narrowing of the bowel lumen is caused by fibrosis(scarring) within the bowel wall. The exact process and and causes of fibrosis are not fully understood. It is believed that fibrosis occurs due to repeated attempts at healing within an inflamed segment of the bowel wall. This results in excess collagen deposition leading to narrowing. More recent studies suggest that the fibrotic segments are likely to be a due to increased stimulation of other layers of the bowel eg- muscular layers within the bowel wall and not just due to collagen. This is a new finding and can potentially be used as a target for treatment.
The main aim is to study the fibrosis within segments of (narrowed) resected bowel in patients undergoing surgery for Crohn's disease in greater detail, comparing this to the segments which are not, in the same sample. The tissue from these resected sections of bowel will also be tested for certain chemical signals from cells which are possibly driving the fibrosis. We also will look for molecular signals in both tissue and blood. Newer advanced technology such as studying protein expression(proteomics) and chemical fingerprints(metabolomics) will be applied.
We also aim to compare the findings among different groups of patients with inflammatory bowel disease eg- newly diagnosed and patients exposed to different groups of drugs.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SW/0010
Date of REC Opinion
14 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion