Grant: Project Grant

Abdominal pain is a debilitating and distressing symptom for many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This proposal takes a different approach to the study of how to treat pain in IBD by examining whether the microbes that reside in the gut modulate pain. Research from our laboratories has identified a microbial inhabitant of the healthy human bowel which normally acts as a brake on neural pain circuits. This microbe is markedly reduced in IBD patients, and we theorise that the loss of this analgesic bacterium contributes to pain in IBD. We have also found that gut microbes from IBD patients can produce pain-causing substances. This shift from a pain-killing effect of microbes from healthy individuals to a pain-causing action of microbes from IBD patients may worsen the pain IBD patients experience. Reversing this shift may therefore alleviate pain in these patients. Our grant develops these theories by studying whether the secretions of the healthy human microbiota can suppress IBD-related pain using patient biopsies and a mouse model of colitis. We also will explore how what changes in the microbiota of IBD patients to lead to worsening pain. Our work will reveal the role that a dysfunctional microbiota plays in IBD-related pain and, more importantly, lay the groundwork for a novel microbial therapy that is more effective and safer than existing opioid pain medications.