IBD complementary diagnostic test

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

This industrial-Ph.D. is a joint research collaboration between the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital and Bio-Me, for studying the gut microbiome in the context of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD is a term used to describe mainly two conditions, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease, which involve a chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. About 2.5-3 million Europeans are affected by IBD, and the number diagnosed each year is continuously increasing. The health care services must prepare for an increasing incidence. The disease course of IBD is unpredictable and differs greatly between patients. Some experience indolent disease and rare relapses, while others develop severe intestinal inflammation and might need long-term medication and/or repeated surgery. To provide the best patient care, the optimal treatment should be tailored by the predicted disease course. However, clinicians are missing the tools needed for such disease stratification. Mounting evidence is pointing at the microbiome as a key player in IBD disease. The gut microbiome is home to trillions of microorganisms, mostly bacteria, and together they exhibit functions that are crucial for our health. Under some circumstances, such as with IBD, this symbiotic relationship is broken. Bio-Me has developed Precision Microbiome Profiling (PMPTM), a new platform for analyzing the gut microbiome with high resolution and a short turnaround time, which makes it perfectly suited for clinical practice. IBSEN III is an ongoing, population-based observational longitudinal cohort-study, designed to answer essential questions with regards to incidence, treatment, and follow-up of patients with IBD in Norway. 2160 treatment naïve IBD patients and symptomatic controls were included throughout 2017-2019. We will analyze samples from participants in the IBSEN III study with the aim of identifying a microbial signature with diagnostic and prognostic capacity for better treatment of IBD patients.