A challenge study to establish early diagnosis method for inflammatory bowel diseases by utilizing revolutionary quantifying method for intestinal barrier function

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K11509
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 59040:Nutrition science and health science-related
• Research Institution: Shimane University
• Principal Investigator: Usuda Haruki 島根大学, 学術研究院医学・看護学系, 助教 (30707667)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 三島 義之 島根大学, 学術研究院医学・看護学系, 助教 (30397864) ; 和田 孝一郎 島根大学, 学術研究院医学・看護学系, 教授 (90263467)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 腸粘膜バリア / 腸粘膜透過性 / IBDの予後予測

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated whether chitosan, a novel evaluation reagent for intestinal mucosal permeability, could be used as an assessment tool for the condition and prognosis prediction of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) colitis. In two types of colitis mouse models (T-cell transfer and IL10KO), chitosan was able to evaluate increased intestinal mucosal permeability before the histopathological changes in intestinal tissue became evident. Furthermore, analysis using microarray suggested that mast cell protease may contribute to the increased intestinal mucosal permeability in the colitis model induced by T-cell transfer. On the other hand, chitosan was shown to assess the worsening of the condition in IBD patients. Based on these results, chitosan has been indicated as a potential evaluation reagent for IBD.

Free Research Field

応用薬理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、IBDの肉眼的所見や病理所見だけでなく、そのような変化が見られない潜在的なIBDの状態悪化やその兆しを評価する手法を開発するための基礎的な知見を提供できたと考えている。これを利用すれば、疾患の増悪や緩解の評価の方法がより多様になるだけでなく、疾患の発症の予測やリスク評価にも利用できる可能性があり、社会的意義は大きいと考えられる。また、病理組織学的な変化がみられる前に分子量1000もの大きさの分子が通るほど腸粘膜透過性が増加するということは学術的な知見としても新規性があり意義があると考えられる。