Grant: Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

Autoimmune diseases occur when the patient's immune system attacks and destroys the body's tissues. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one such disease and consists of several different conditions united by common symptoms of gut inflammation. Over time, inflammation damages the lining of the gut leading to diarrhea, pain, bleeding and other symptoms as well as increased risk for colorectal cancer. Currently, patients with IBD are treated with immunosuppressive drugs, anti-inflammatory medications, and surgery to remove the most severely affected portions of colon. Each treatment comes with a risk of harmful side effects, and none can cure the disease. IBD is lifelong and often progressive. Our goal is to develop a unique therapy that uses specialized immune cells, called 'regulatory T cells' or Tregs, instead of drugs, to treat the inflammation. Tregs regulate the immune response by preventing over-active immune cells from attacking one's own body. In IBD, certain factors make immune cells hyperactive which results in gut inflammation. We plan to design Tregs to recognize one such factor so that they will get activated in the gut, leading to remission of the disease. We will test our approach in isolated Tregs in the laboratory and in mouse models of IBD. Using mouse models we can show that the therapy works, and is safe, before potentially putting humans at risk. This novel therapy will be patient-specific and significantly reduce the risk of side effects. Over 200,000 Canadians have IBD, representing a $2.8 billion financial burden to our society. Research to treat and cure IBD will not only improve each patient's life, it will also reduce financial burdens on the Canadian health system and by giving the patients the ability to participate in a normal work life. In the future, Tregs could also be designed to recognize other molecules and treat other autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, or prevent rejection of transplanted organs.