Researchers from the Centre for Human Genetics contributed to a groundbreaking paper that develops the first cellular atlas in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, focusing on their response to the most commonly used treatment.
This new understanding of how different cells react and how they respond to treatment marks an important step towards more precise, personalised treatments for these inflammatory conditions.
The findings published in the journal Nature Immunology, involve scientists from the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham, along with colleagues from Australia and the United States. The research was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) and the Kennedy Trust for Rheumatology Research.
The study generated around 1 million single-cell transcriptomes – the full range of messenger RNA molecules - from 216 gut biopsies of 38 patients. These revealed disease-specific cellular differences and mapped potential treatment responses for Crohn’s and colitis.
Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases are characterised by impaired immune tolerance, leading to chronic inflammation and organ damage. Around 40 percent of patients do not respond to anti-TNFs, or the effect is short-lived, so alternative treatments are needed. Scientists have been investigating the cellular and molecular basis of diseases like ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Understanding the impact of different therapies on cells could inform treatment strategies for these patients. This latest study sought to better understand the tissue landscape of Crohn’s and colitis in adults before and after the most commonly used biologic treatment, adalimumab, using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).
Read the full paper in Nature Immunology: https//www.nature.com/articles/s41590-024-01994-8