Identification of risk factors for IBD: focus on intestinal barrier function and familial aggregation

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has become a global disorder in the 21th century with a major impact on the healthcare systems and quality of life of patients. The disease is characterized by chronic remitting inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and has its peak incidence in adolescence and young adulthood. Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) encompass the two opposite ends of the disease spectrum of IBD and are associated with often invalidating symptoms of diarrhea, blood and mucus loss, abdominal pain, weight loss, fever and fatigue.

The last decades have witnessed significant advances in the development of new therapeutic targets, mainly focusing on interfering with the ongoing inflammatory processes without necessarily affecting the underlying pathogenic factors. Although the exact determinants are unclear, the disease is multifactorial with a role for genetics, the intestinal innate and adaptive immune system, the microbiota and the exposome. The general aim of this PhD project was to more extensively study risk factors for IBD with a focus on intestinal barrier function and familial aggregation, and as a result aid in understanding what drives disease and how we might impact on these processes.