Uncontrolled inflammation in the gut can cause inflammatory bowel disease and eventually, the development of colon cancer.
This uncontrolled inflammation is associated with changes in bacteria populations in the gut, which can invade the mucosal tissue after damage to the protective cellular barrier lining the tissue.
Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University found that modifying the shape of IRAK-M, a protein that controls inflammation, can significantly reduce the clinical progression of both diseases in pre-clinical animal models.
The altered protein causes the immune system to become supercharged, clearing out the bacteria before they can do any damage. The team’s findings were published in eBioMedicine.
“When we tested mice with the altered IRAK-M protein, they had less inflammation overall, and remarkably less cancer,” said Coy Allen, an assistant professor of inflammatory disease, working in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.
The next step, Allen said, will be to evaluate these findings in human patients through ongoing collaborations with Carilion Clinic and Duke University.
The team is evaluating their findings in laboratory-assembled “mini-guts” — live tissue models that Allen and his team assembled by growing intestinal stem cells on petri dishes to form complex small intestinal and colon tissue.
“Ultimately, if we can design therapeutics to target IRAK-M, we think it could be a viable strategy for preventing inflammatory bowel disease and cancer,” said Allen.
Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US and the third most common cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.