A study into inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigations of the role of the immune system, gastrointestinal epithelium and microbiota in the aetiology and pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
IRAS ID
227898
Contact name
Simon Chan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Research summary
The gastrointestinal tract is exposed to the food and drink we ingest, microorganisms that naturally occur in our gut (gut microbiota) and pathogens (microorganisms that cause disease) on a daily basis. Amazingly, our immune system is able to distinguish between this vast range of exposures and mounts an immune response only against pathogens so that we remain protected from disease. Unfortunately, our immune systems sometimes fail to remove a pathogen, which leads to the development of diseases. At other times our immune system can get things wrong and generates an immune responses to our food and drink, gut microbiota or our own gastrointestinal tissues/organs. When this happens it can lead to the development of many chronic gastrointestinal and liver diseases that may also lead to the development of cancers.
Our principal objective is to therefore understand why our immune systems sometimes gets things wrong, leading to the development and progression of many inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. To do this we will investigate the cells of our immune system, tissues from our gastrointestinal tract and microorganisms found in our gut as these all play a role in chronic inflammatory gastrointestinal disease. We will also look at the impact of our genetics and environmental exposures such as diet and lifestyle on these diseases. By gaining more information on these individual components and the interactions between them, we hope an improved understanding of the mechanisms that lead to chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract will lead to new targets for treatments and guidance on lifestyle. This would help to reduce the burden of gastrointestinal and liver diseases which are the third most common cause of death and the most common cause for hospital admissions in the UK.
Lay summary of study results:
A lay summary is not available as the study was exploratory in nature and attempted to use several murine assays to assess pathways in human tissue. However, these assays failed to generate results as they could not be optimised for use in human tissue.REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EE/0005
Date of REC Opinion
19 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion