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Until today hidden causes of chronic intestinal diseases discovered by researchers
Although chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease are diagnosed more and more often, it is still largely unknown how such diseases occur. German researchers have now discovered a cause of chronic inflammation.
New mechanism revealed
According to experts, chronic intestinal diseases such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease are due to errors in the body's immune system. The result is often relapsing symptoms such as abdominal pain, cramps or diarrhea. Where exactly the decisive causes lie is still the subject of research. German researchers have now uncovered a new mechanism that causes inflammation in the gut.
The causes of chronic bowel disease are still largely unknown. Researchers have now discovered a mechanism that causes inflammation in the gut. (Image: ag visual / fotolia.com) A trigger for chronic bowel disease
A team around Dr. Nadine Hövelmeyer and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ari Waisman from the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, together with Dr. med. Elke Glasmacher of Helmholtz Zentrum München discovered that "too much" of the known oncogene Bcl-3 leads to chronic intestinal diseases.
How exactly this brings the immune system out of balance, they describe in the journal "Nature Communications".
"Together with our co-operation partners, we were able to show that the protein Bcl-3, which also plays a role in various cancers, is elevated in the intestine of patients with colitis and is actually the cause of the disease," Dr. Nadine Hövelmeyer, working group leader at the Mainz Institute of Molecular Medicine, in a statement from the clinic.
Its effect on the gut health Bcl-3 unfolds the study in the so-called regulatory T cells (Tregs). They are actually responsible for preventing excessive reactions of the immune system and to build up a tolerance to the own body.
New targets for therapies
"We were able to show that Bcl-3 prevents the activation of Tregs by preventing the reading of necessary genes," said Glasmacher, working group leader at the Munich Institute for Diabetes and Obesity and a scientist at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD)..
"Because Bcl-3 interacts with the transcription factor p50, which would be responsible for the activation, and blocks it."
As a result, the regulatory T cells remain passive, the immune system is no longer regulated, and the inflammatory processes are set in motion.
"The model experiment showed that with increased amounts of Bcl-3, certain cells migrate into the intestine and cause severe inflammation there," explained the first author of the publication. Sonja Reissig, research associate at the University Medical Center Mainz.
"The results contribute significantly to our understanding of chronic inflammatory bowel disease and to uncover long-term new targets for therapies," said Hövelmeyer.
Your colleague Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ari Waisman, Head of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the Mainz University Medical Center, added: "We are currently exploring new drugs that prevent the interaction between Bcl-3 and p50 and thus maintain normal Treg function." (Ad)