Publication: Nature Genetics

Chris Eijsbouts, Tenghao Zheng, Nicholas A. Kennedy, Ferdinando Bonfiglio, Carl A. Anderson, Loukas Moutsianas, Joanne Holliday, Jingchunzi Shi, Suyash Shringarpure, 23andMe Research Team, Alexandru-Ioan Voda, The Bellygenes Initiative, Gianrico Farrugia, Andre Franke, Matthias Hübenthal, Gonçalo Abecasis, Matthew Zawistowski, Anne Heidi Skogholt, Eivind Ness-Jensen, Kristian Hveem, Tõnu Esko, Maris Teder-Laving, Alexandra Zhernakova, Michael Camilleri, Guy Boeckxstaens, Peter J. Whorwell, Robin Spiller, Gil McVean, Mauro D’Amato, Luke Jostins & Miles Parkes

05 November 2021

Summary

An international study of more than 50,000 people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has revealed that IBS symptoms may be caused by the same biological processes as conditions such as anxiety.

The research team, including more than 40 institutions showed that overall, heritability of IBS (how much your genes influence the likelihood of developing a particular condition) is quite low, indicating the importance of environmental factors such as diet, stress and patterns of behaviour that may also be shared in the family environment.

However, 6 genetic differences were more common in people with IBS than in controls. Researchers found most of the altered genes appear to have more clear-cut roles in the brain and possibly the nerves which supply the gut, rather than the gut itself.

The team also looked for overlap between susceptibility to IBS and other physical and mental health conditions.  They found that the same genetic make-up that puts people at increased risk of IBS also increases the risk for common mood and anxiety disorders such as anxiety, depression, and neuroticism, as well as insomnia. However,  this doesn’t mean that anxiety causes IBS symptoms or vice versa.

Read the full story. 

Publication: Cell

Olafsson S, McIntyre RE, Coorens T, Butler T, Jung H, Robinson PS, Lee-Six H, Sanders MA, Arestang K, Dawson C, Tripathi M. Somatic evolution in non-neoplastic IBD-affected colon.

6 August 2020

Summary

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal cancers. We whole-genome sequenced 446 colonic crypts (intestinal glands in the colon) from 46 IBD patients and compared these to 412 crypts from 41 non-IBD controls from our previous publication on the mutation landscape of the normal colon.

Publication: Cell

M. Zaeem Cader, Rodrigo Pereira de Almeida Rodrigues, James A. West, Gavin W. Sewell, Muhammad N. Md-Ibrahim, Stephanie Reikine, Giuseppe Sirago, Lukas W. Unger, Ana Belén Iglesias-Romero, Katharina Ramshorn, Lea-Maxie Haag, Svetlana Saveljeva, Jana-Fabienne Ebel, Philip Rosenstiel, Nicole C. Kaneider, James C. Lee, Trevor D. Lawley, Allan Bradley, Gordon Dougan, Yorgo Modis, Julian L. Griffin, Arthur Kaser

23 January 2020

Summary

Mutations in FAMIN cause arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease in early childhood, and a common genetic variant increases the risk for Crohn’s disease and leprosy. Researchers developed an unbiased liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry screen for enzymatic activity of this orphan protein.

Publication: Nature

Simon F Brunner, Nicola D Roberts, Luke A Wylie, Luiza Moore, Sarah J Aitken, Susan E Davies, Mathijs A Sanders , Pete Ellis, Chris Alder, Yvette Hooks, Federico Abascal, Michael R Stratton, Inigo Martincorena, Matthew Hoare, Peter J Campbell

23 October 2019

Summary:

The most common causes of chronic liver disease are excess alcohol intake, viral hepatitis and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

The genome of HCC exhibits diverse mutational signatures, resulting in recurrent mutations across more than 30 cancer genes. Stem cells from normal livers have a low mutational burden and limited diversity of signatures, which suggests that the complexity of HCC arises during the progression to chronic liver disease and subsequent malignant transformation.

Publication: Gut

Daniele Biasci, James C Lee Nurulamin M Noor, Diana R Pombal, Monica Hou, Nina Lewis, Tariq Ahmad, Ailsa Hart, Miles Parkes, Eoin F McKinney, Paul A Lyons, Kenneth G C Smith

1 October 2019

Summary:

Researchers have previously described a prognostic transcriptional signature in CD8 T cells that separates patients with IBD into two phenotypically distinct subgroups, termed IBD1 and IBD2. They sought to develop a blood-based test that could identify these subgroups without cell separation, and would be suitable for clinical use in Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC).

Publication: JAMA

Walker GJ, Harrison JW, Heap GA, Voskuil MD, Andersen V, Anderson CA, Ananthakrishnan AN, Barrett JC, Beaugerie L, Bewshea CM, Cole AT, Cummings FR, Daly MJ, Ellul P, Fedorak RN, Festen EAM, Florin TH, Gaya DR, Halfvarson J, Hart AL, Heerasing NM, Hendy P, Irving PM, Jones SE, Koskela J, Lindsay JO, Mansfield JC, McGovern D, Parkes M, Pollok RCG, Ramakrishnan S, Rampton DS, Rivas MA, Russell RK, Schultz M, Sebastian S, Seksik P, Singh A, So K, Sokol H, Subramaniam K, Todd A, Annese V, Weersma RK, Xavier R, Ward R, Weedon MN, Goodhand JR, Kennedy NA, Ahmad T; IBD Pharmacogenetics Study Group.

26 February 2019

Publication: The Lancet

Kennedy NA, Heap GA, Green HD, Hamilton B, Bewshea C, Walker GJ, Thomas A, Nice R, Perry MH, Bouri S, Chanchlani N, Heerasing NM, Hendy P, Lin S, Gaya DR, Cummings JRF, Selinger CP, Lees CW, Hart AL, Parkes M, Sebastian S, Mansfield JC, Irving PM, Lindsay J, Russell RK, McDonald TJ, McGovern D, Goodhand JR, Ahmad T; UK Inflammatory Bowel Disease Pharmacogenetics Study Group.

26 February 2019

Publication: BMJ Open

Thomas MG, Bayliss C, Bond S, Dowling F, Galea J, Jairath V, Lamb C, Probert C, Timperley-Preece E, Watson A, Whitehead L, Williams JG, Parkes M, Kaser A, Raine T.

15 February 2019

Publication: American Journal of Gastroenterology

Forrest EH, Atkinson SR, Richardson P, Masson S, Ryder S, Thursz MR, Allison M.

2019 Jan;114(1):175-176.

Publication: Science Signalling

Schneditz G, Elias JE, Pagano E, Zaeem Cader M, Saveljeva S, Long K, Mukhopadhyay S, Arasteh M, Lawley TD, Dougan G, Bassett A, Karlsen TH, Kaser A, Kaneider NC.

1 January 2019

Publication: Gastroenterology

Eddowes PJ, Sasso M, Allison M, Tsochatzis E, Anstee QM, Sheridan D, Guha IN, Cobbold JF, Deeks JJ, Paradis V, Bedossa P, Newsome PN.

25 January 2019

Publication: BMJ Open

Parkes M, Noor NM, Dowling F, Leung H, Bond S, Whitehead L, et al.

5 December 2018

Publication: Journal of Hepatology.

Forrest EH, Atkinson SR, Richardson P, Masson S, Ryder S, Thursz MR, Allison M; STOPAH Trial Management Group.

24 August 2018

Publication: Digestive Diseases and Sciences

Kiely CJ, Clark A, Bhattacharyya J, Moran GW, Lee JC, Parkes M.

19 February 2018