Lay Summary

Proposal No.   IBD-0067R
Principal Investigator:  Daniel C. Baumgart, M.D., Ph.D.
Applicant Organization:  Charité Medical Center - Medical School of the Humboldt - University of Berlin (Germany)
Project Title: Dendritic cells in inflammatory bowel disease
Period of Award:  September 1, 2003 - March 31, 2006

Despite extensive research efforts, the exact cause of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is largely unknown.  One well accepted hypothesis assumes that IBD is caused by an overreaction of the gut immune system towards the intestinal bacteria or their components.

Whether tissue damage occurs depends on what subtype of immune cell population (T-cells) is activated or deactivated and what mediators (cytokines) are released.  Activation and deactivation require an accessory immune cell population named antigen presenting cells (dendritic cells).

The purpose of this project is to investigate dendritic cells, since they may have a key role in inflammation and epithelial restitution (healing) in IBD.  We plan to study dendritic cells isolated from venous blood samples and gut tissue samples obtained from surgical and endoscopic biopsy specimens from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and compare them to healthy controls with other bowel conditions.

A better understanding of the role of dendritic cells may lead to the development of novel therapies.  A manipulation of the activation process of immune cells with subsequent release of mediators known to promote healing is desirable.  The development of novel therapies with manipulated immune cells (dendritic cells or T-cells) would be a major advance compared to currently available global immunosuppressive regimens affecting the entire human immune system (with their respective side effects) or downstream events of the inflammatory cascade.