ATLANTA— Emilie Viennois, assistant professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University has received a three years Career Development Award of $300,000 from Crohn’s and Colitis foundation to investigate how the dialogue between miRNAs and bacteria in the gut can either exacerbate or prevent inflammatory bowel disease.
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) which main forms are Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are affecting approximately 1.5 Million people in the US. IBD is characterized by an inflammation of all or a part of the gastrointestinal tract and causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms, such as persistent diarrhea and cramping abdominal pain, that affect quality of life.
Host-bacteria dialogues in the intestine are crucial for the maintenance of a healthy gut. Modifications of the complex communities of bacteria that inhabit the intestine, collectively refer to as microbiota, are a prerequisite for the development of IBD. Therefore, manipulating the microbiota toward being inherently less harmful could be a new therapeutic approach for IBD. However, since there are some potential risks that may be associated with fecal transplantation, such as pathogen transfer or increased obesity, safer and more appealing strategies need to be developed. In addition to microbiota, the fecal contents include another set of factors that was recently shown to have a physiological relevance: miRNAs that are small nucleic acid molecules.
This project seeks to identify whether the gut microbiota can affect miRNA production and release by the colon to the fecal content, as well as if and how fecal miRNAs can modify the microbiota.
“I anticipate that miRNAs could be new indicators of microbiota healthiness. From the understanding of the nature of the relationship between microbiota and miRNAs, could emerge a new approach to modify the microbiota in a beneficial way, ultimately benefiting therapies for IBD patients” Emilie Viennois said.
Ultimately the understanding of how the microbiota and its composition affect fecal miRNA levels/profiles, and whether fecal miRNAs can modify the composition and pro-inflammatory potential of the microbiota in a beneficial or detrimental way could clearly benefit future efforts to diagnose, prevent and/or treat IBD.