Biomarkers for inflammatory bowel disease

IBD affects approximately 2 to 3 million people in Europe alone, causing significant discomfort and suffering. In its extreme form as Crohn's disease, it requires surgery and often has dismal prognosis. It is now widely accepted that a better clinical outcome would be attained through prompt diagnosis and early treatment.

This requires the discovery of specific biomarkers to both diagnose and stratify patients according to disease severity. With this in mind, scientists on the EU-funded 'Diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for inflammatory bowel disease IBD-BIOM' (IBD-BIOM) project have joined forces to identify biomarkers for IBD.

Based on a large number of previously bio-banked samples, the plan is to combine patient phenotypic information with omics data. Patient samples will be analysed at the epigenetic, glycomic, glycoproteomic and activomic levels. Epigenetically, researchers hope to identify genome-wide changes in DNA methylation associated with an altered gene expression at different stages of IBD course.

Using high-throughput liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry technology, IBD-BIOM will also analyse the glycosylation of the plasma IgG molecules and link them to IBD inflammation. Preliminary data indicate that in response to inflammation the pattern of IgG glycosylation changes. A similar analysis of the differentially glycosylated proteins will be performed in gut samples from IBD patients. So far, a number of interesting IBD-related hits have been identified and are being further investigated.

A significant project achievement is the development of activomics, a novel technology established by one of the IBD-BIOM partners for biomarker discovery. Activomics analyses the enzymes responsible for post-translational modifications (phosphorylation, glycosylation or proteolysis). During inflammation higher levels of proteases are evident, but how this is linked to IBD onset and progression is currently unknown.

By combining genetic, epigenetic and glycomic information the IBD-BIOM consortium hopes to discover biomarkers that are associated with the different stages of IBD. Their activities are being disseminated through the project website where patient videos provide an extra testimonial on life with IBD.