Grant: Team Grant: CEEHRC - Full application

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic intestinal inflammatory diseases that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Canada has one of the world's highest incidence rates with over 200,000 people suffering from some form of IBD (approximately 0.5% of the population). In addition, there is a strong association between IBD and the development of colon cancer, with IBD patients having a 2 to 3-fold greater lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer. While 99 genetic associations have been identified for IBD, the risk associated with any individual genetic marker is small suggesting that other factors like environmental effects and "epigenetics" may play an important role. In this research study, we examine how intestinal microorganisms (bacteria) may effect the development of IBD through modulation of the body's immune response to those microorganisms. We think epigenetic mechanism may contribute to this response. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence. Epigenetic regulatory proteins are thought to comprise a new generation of drug targets and so this proposal will also use inhibitory compounds to study the biological function of epigenetic regulatory factors and to identify potential new drug targets for treatment of IBD.