Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes both Crohn's disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC). These diseases affect approximately 280,000 Canadians and have important repercussions on the quality of life, and both personal and societal direct and indirect costs. The causes are poorly understood, and treatment is largely symptom-based and not curative. Commonly used drugs may have potentially important adverse effects such as cancer or serious infections. Moreover, some patients are resistant to these drugs. Therefore, safer and more broadly effective therapies are needed. The human intestine has trillions of microbes, named gut microbiota, that are essential for the life and maintaining the physiological functions. There is some indication that a group of proteins involved in immune control named chromogranin-A (CHGA) and its derived peptides can regulate inflammation in the gut. I aim to understand how CHGA and its derived peptide (Chromofungin [CHR]) can balance the composition of gut microbiota to reduce intestinal inflammation in IBD states in humans and in animal models. Ultimately, this research will serve to determine if CHGA and CHR are potential therapeutic targets in IBD. In summary, I will explore a new pathway of proteins during intestinal inflammation that will provide a basis for possible new treatments of IBD.