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Crosstalk between intestinal ephitelial proteolytic activity and inflammatory bowel diseases
Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), the two main subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are chronic relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Patients suffer from relapsing flares with diarrhoea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. To date, the molecular mechanisms of IBD are poorly understood. Nevertheless, many data suggest that inflammatory lesions could be driven by environmental stimuli, inducing an immune dysfunction in genetically predisposed individuals. Since the discovery of NOD2 in 2001, genetic studies have reported more than 170 IBD susceptibility loci.. The strongest associations have highlighted three main pathways involved in IBD: bacterial sensing (NOD2, CD), autophagy (ATG16L1 and IRGM, CD) and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress (XBP1, UC).
Proteases play a key role in the digestion but also in the homeostatic maintenance of the intestinal barrier. Studies from our lab have evidenced excessive proteolytic activity in the context of IBD, associated with a decreased expression of protease inhibitors in the colonic mucosa.
We aim to study the relationship between the proteolytic activity from intestinal epithelium and the three pathways involved in IBD (NOD2, autophagy and ER stress)
Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), the two main subtypes of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are chronic relapsing inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract. Patients suffer from relapsing flares with diarrhoea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. To date, the molecular mechanisms of IBD are poorly understood. Nevertheless, many data suggest that inflammatory lesions could be driven by environmental stimuli, inducing an immune dysfunction in genetically predisposed individuals. Since the discovery of NOD2 in 2001, genetic studies have reported more than 170 IBD susceptibility loci.. The strongest associations have highlighted three main pathways involved in IBD: bacterial sensing (NOD2, CD), autophagy (ATG16L1 and IRGM, CD) and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress (XBP1, UC).
Proteases play a key role in the digestion but also in the homeostatic maintenance of the intestinal barrier. Studies from our lab have evidenced excessive proteolytic activity in the context of IBD, associated with a decreased expression of protease inhibitors in the colonic mucosa.
We aim to study the relationship between the proteolytic activity from intestinal epithelium and the three pathways involved in IBD (NOD2, autophagy and ER stress)