A unique model of inflammatory bowel disease.

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Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) has two clinical forms known as Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn's Disease (CD). These are severe diseases which predominantly affect young people. They are occasionally fatal and often severely debilitating. Treatment of UC frequently requires removal of the large bowel and life long wearing of an ileostomy bag. While this is curative, its psychological and life style effects are very disturbing particularly in the young. The cause of IBD is unknown, although it is clear that there are both genetic and environmental factors. We have developed a model of IBD in mice which appears to be very like human UC. We have generated genetically modified mice in which it appears that the mucous secreted by their bowel wall is different from normal. We propose to investigate how this change leads to UC. It appears likely that the mucous is defective and can not prevent some of the normal bacteria or other material present in the stools from entering the bowel wall and causing chronic inflammation. If we can show that this is the case, it adds strong support to the the idea that a similar genetic trait may occur in some humans and that this may be one of the genetic components which renders them susceptible to IBD. Put another way, it would be a pointer to the type of genetic defect which may underlie susceptibility in humans and so help to focus the search for the genetic component. Understanding genetic factors underlying disease susceptibility is vitally important to inform genetic counselling. In addition, understanding the various factors which lead to IBD is critical to developing rational treatments which target cause rather than the symptoms of the disease.